Rereading Review: "The Subterraneans" by Jack Kerouac

I've written a fair bit about Kerouac and so, here's a selection of reviews of his books. This does not include his features in Why It's a Masterpiece nor does it include Reading Experiences - just some reviews:

The Subterraneans is a book I have read before, back in university. But, I thought I would have a revisit because I didn't quite like it enough the first time. Will I work my way through a reread of Kerouac's books? Probably. I'm not sure yet. I would really like to reread On the Road, but I think I may have overkilled that book a bit. My favourite Kerouac novels include The Town and the City and of course, The Sea is My Brother. But perhaps, he is best known as the King of the Beats and if you're looking for a more out-there Kerouac text then this one is maybe for you...

The 'subterraneans' are a bunch of beats - there are poets, musicians, artists and people who just sit around taking drugs. They of course, listen to jazz and gather about in San Francisco wasting time and waiting about. I'm not going to lie, this book is a bit more fast-paced than I would like for a Kerouac novel. Normally, I am more into his introspection and this one seemed to take off like a silver bullet. Yes, it's still good but I have to say - I remember why I thought it was a bit lower down the scale of his books last time I read it. With the protagonist again, being based on Kerouac himself we have to think it's cool that we get to investigate his romance with a Black woman at a time that this would have been seen differently. This is, like his book Maggie Cassidy, based on a real-life romance he had.

The two share an intellectual energy and the love story escalates very quickly, much quicker than it does in Maggie Cassidy. the two move in together and have this super-turbulent love affair which seems to resides in the minds of those who have seen one too many versions of Golden Age Hollywood romance movies. Yes it's passionate but it is not realistic. Of course, the main character becomes encompassed in his own head and his introspection deepens towards his own insecurities. He, like many men of his age and time, has a deep-seated fear of commitment and thus, he doubts himself over and over again creating tension in the relationship. I love to say that I love Kerouac but this book has always seemed a bit obvious to me. At least I like it more now than when I read it the first time.

The way in which we see the couple's dynamics is definitely through their shared space and lifestyle. We have heavy drinking, casual drug use, wandering about the city aimlessly and listening to jazz music with bohemian friend who might be living the exact same lifestyle. The difference is of course, this interracial relationship at a time when things were seen through a more racially aggravated lens. With the fear of commitment that the main character has bled into his relationship, this lifestyle means he starts to push away his lover which of course, leads to the relationship failing. If you didn't see it coming then I don't know what to tell you. It definitely isn't my favourite Kerouac novel but I can understand why people like it - there are some great images and descriptions within. There's a lot of philosophising about art and jazz. But the storyline lets it down a bit.

So my rereading of The Subterraneans was not exactly me thinking that it was the bee's knees. I had quite a few complaints about it the first time I read it, but now I'm starting to at least enjoy some aspects of it. Unfortunately though, it isn't highly ranked on my favourite Kerouac novels, though I can bump it up a bit. Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Is there something I'm missing about it or did you too, find it too fast-paced for a Kerouac book? It seemed to be missing the weird side-stories and lengthy introspective ramblings which make up the Kerouac bibliography otherwise.