Jan KerouacBesprekingen

Picked this up at a book rescue. Looked at the title and thought it was the book the recent movie was based on. I was wrong. Instead, this is a memoir of Jan Kerouac, daughter of Jack. Besides the genetics, he had nothing to do with her upbringing. She was raised with a single mother and had a rough childhood. She made many bad decisions like so many of us do. I really wasn't that interested in the book but did finish it.

I have to admit, I first checked this book out of my local library without expecting to like it. Being a tremendous fan of Jack Kerouac, I really just wanted to read Baby Driver out of curiosity. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the family literary gene successfully made its way to Jan Kerouac. This book is excellent; her writing style is fluid and highly commendable. It's not hard reading, but that isn't to say that there isn't plenty here to ponder. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone, and not just those who are interested in Kerouac Sr. For women especially, this book is well-worth reading.

One would expect that as the only child of Jack Kerouac, Jan Kerouac would have been afforded something of note or merit. Instead, not only did she receive the slap of never being officially recognized by her father, her story reveals a mother that largely spent her life chasing down one bad relationship after another resulting in an additional three children in an already rough situation. When a bout with prostitution is a step-up because it represents stability and structure, you know that the memoir is going to be dim on positive moments.

Her father manages only two in-person appearances and one via phone - both in-person ones drenched in liquor. And yet, it becomes apparent that the name will haunt her for better or for worse. During a stint in a mental hospital, a doctor thrusts a copy of On the Road at her with seemingly no regard for her welfare because he's an immense fan. Her mother leverages the name to track her down as a runaway since it is quite obvious that their situation would not otherwise afford a front-page news story. In the expanded edition, letters to her publisher reveal that she's been asked to come up with more stories about her father...something she's unable to do beyond their 3 encounters.

Jan structures her book so that chapters alternate between an older version of Jan and a little-girl until the little girl catches up with the older-version we first met in Chapter 1. This structure gives us insight into the adult's decisions all along the way while making everything that happens to the little girl all the more tragic as it is clear that these adventures will have long-term consequence.

What a tragic life - anyone interested in human psychology will get a wild ride with this one. One can only guess what a different life she would have led if Jack was more involved in her life.

This picks up where Baby Driver left off, chronicling Jan's adult life. Here is a more mature Jan, writing this memoir later in life - she comes to grips with her lineage and the absent love of an absent father. That is basically what Jan's two books are about - they are very honest stories about a woman searching for love, acceptance, and approval from men because she never received it from her father. It's tragic that she died in her mid-forties with only two books published and one on the way - she was definitely on her way to defining her position in the literary world as a unique, original voice.