Ouch! Vermont's Independent Voice, Seven Days, pans On the Road

Click here for a very negative review of On the Road by Seven Days, "Vermont's Independent Voice."

The movie's not nearly that bad (although I haven't yet seen the U.S. version), and the author, Rick Kisonak, ignores the fact that not all of us came to Kerouac when we were 16. Some of us, like me, became smitten in our 40s, and so I cannot agree with him when he says:

When you’re 16, Kerouac’s book may seem to concern something more cosmic, but crack those covers once you’ve got a little mileage on you, and you’ll see the harsh truth that it’s basically a diary of visits.

I again point out that no less than acclaimed poet Anne Waldman says that there's a spiritual architecture to Kerouac's work, and Kerouac biographer Gerald Nicosia frequently points out that On the Road is a profound spiritual quest. And certainly not just a "diary of visits."

Regarding Kerouac, Kisonak doesn't get "It."

Readers of The Daily Beat do. See the movie.