Customer Reviews

Kerouac: Visions of Rocky Mount

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Mr.Dorfner took the time,energy and patience to retrace Jack Kerouac's footprints left in North Carolina and the result is a VERY imformative and enjoyable book. For me,it has answered ALL the impending questions regarding Jack's journey/stay's with his sister(Nin). Once I closed the last page, I found myself aching to head out to North Carolina to find a little piece of Jack left behind by someone who had no idea of the mark he has left for us all. One of the best parts is where Mr.Dorfner actually locates the famous trees/woods Jack spoke so fondly of in his masterpiece, "The dharma bum's". If you are a SERIOUS fan of Kerouac then this book is DEFINITELY worth reading.Congrat's goes out to Mr. Dorfner for his research in finding out Jack's life in North Carolina.

I just finished John J Dorfner's Kerouac: Visions of Rocky Mount, and, like his other book, Kerouac: Visions of Lowell, it kept me engaged from start to finish. It includes many pictures from actual places in and around that part of North Carolina where Jack lived and wrote some of his famous works. Dorfner took the time to search out and take pictures of specific houses, intersections, and even the kinds of trees that Jack mentioned in such novels as On The Road, The Dharma Bums and Visions of Cody. Reading it made me want to visit the area so I can see the places for myself. Dorfner's other book was especially fascinating for me because I've spent a bit of time in Lowell.

The introduction is a concise bio of Jack's early years and then his time in North Carolina. The numerous pictures are accompanied by Dorfner's musings as well as various Kerouac quotes referencing those particular places around Rocky Mount, NC, where Jack occasionally lived with his sister, Nin, her husband, Paul, and their baby son, Paul, Jr. It's the place Jack refers to as being in Testament, Virginia in On The Road, where he and his mom (Memere) were visiting when Neal (Dean), LuAnne (Marylou), and Al Hinkle (Ed Dunkel) showed up from out west in the '49 Hudson and used it to move furniture to New York City in a mad frenzy of driving and talking courtesy of the Holy Goof.

If you've ever wanted to see actual images of some of the places around Rocky Mount that Jack wrote about, this is an essential edition to your Kerouac collection. That it's a fun and informative read is icing on the cake.