Staff Pick: Christie

Big Sur

By Jack Kerouac

I read this book at a bar in New Jersey that considers Jack Kerouac as their patron saint. Old men stared at me. It was a nice evening.

Big Sur takes place ten years after On the Road. Kerouac is famous, hates it, drinks a lot, and is basically in self destruct mode. He decides to stay at Lawrence Ferlinghetti's cabin in Big Sur in order to stay away from his fans and booze. This results in a poem about the sea (which is at the end of the novel) and a mental breakdown.