On The Road

I didn't really enjoy this book, it was alright, but there didn't seem to be much purpose. Stories are supposed to have a problem that the characters work to solve throughout the plot, but in this book there was no conflict to base the story on, there were numerous minor problems, but the characters traveled pretty much on a whim. The whole story consisted of the characters hitchhiking across the country over and over again.

Seeing as there was no real plot, and the only character who might have provided some sort of moral or philosophical point to discuss here was insane (not just a personal opinion, it's actually stated in the book many times), I didn't manage to get much to post about here.

Thankfully I did manage to make one observation. At the beginning of the book the main character was heading to the West, the stories of how the West was a paradise filled with beautiful girls, easy jobs, and a guarantee of a fun-filled life were his motivation. However he meets a person heading East whose opinion seems to be the exact opposite. Whereas the main character believes the West is better than the East, the person he meets seems equally convinced the East is better than the West.

I suppose this is a classic example of the old phrase "the grass is always greener on the other side." Actually the whole book is kind of an example of that, none of the characters are ever satisfied in one place for long, so they head to the other side of the country, then they get bored there too and across the country they go again.

Well that pretty much sums up the book I guess, there really wasn't much to it other than that. A bit  disappointing for a 52 book, but that's how it goes I suppose. Not every book on a list of this size can be amazing and insightful. So I suppose it's time for me to move on to my next book.