Tag: Buddhism

Jack Kerouac – Wake Up | Review

April 19, 2016
Authors K-O (By Surname)Non-Fiction

Title: Wake Up

Author: Jack Kerouac

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 146

Rating: 7/10

 

Jack Kerouac - Wake Up

Jack Kerouac – Wake Up

 

Wake Up is Jack Kerouac’s biography of Siddhartha Guatama, the founder of Buddhism. Written in his inimitable style, it’s certainly an interesting read if only as part of Kerouac’s legacy, and it’s a short enough book that you can whizz through it pretty quickly. I can’t say that I’m particularly interested in Buddhism and so this was a struggle at times, but it’s one of those books that you read so that you can say that you’ve read it, and hopefully to learn a little along the way.

Buddhist ideals had an undeniable influence on Kerouac, and this is hardly the first time that the author wrote about the subject. This, then, is a book that needed to be written – Kerouac’s take on Buddhism for the West.

 

Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac

 

Click here to buy Wake Up.

Jack Kerouac – Book of Haikus | Review

December 8, 2015
Authors K-O (By Surname)Poetry

Title: Book of Haikus

Author: Jack Kerouac

Type: Poetry

Page Count/Review Word Count: 200

Rating: 8/10

 

Jack Kerouac - Book of Haikus

Jack Kerouac – Book of Haikus

 

Most people only know of Jack Kerouac as the author of On the Road, but this book demonstrates that he has skills in other areas too. Kerouac’s haiku often stick to the traditional form of 5-7-5, but he does sometimes experiment too, and often with eastern forms that he discovered through his forays into Buddhism and other eastern religions.

I only have one real gripe with this book – the writing itself is pretty epic, and I really enjoy the way that Kerouac invokes nature and natural themes in to his writing, in the fine traditions of the oldest of the old haiku writers. That said, I’m pretty sure that the plural of ‘haiku’ is ‘haiku’, and so I do get kind of annoyed by that.

Overall, though, it’s a delightful little book, and one that you could fit in to your pocket fairly easily. What’s more, it’s the sort of book that you can dip in and out of, although I have to admit that I read it from cover to cover because that’s the kind of reader I am.

 

Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac

 

Click here to buy Book of Haikus.