Maggie Cassidy [Mass Market Paperback]

Jack Kerouac (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 2011

Written in 1953, published in 1959 (after the 1957 publication of Kerouac's On the Road made him famous overnight) and long out of print, this touching novel of adolescent love in a New England mill town is one of Kerouac's most accessible works.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1922. In 1947, enthused by bebop, the rebel attitude of his friend Neal Cassady, and the throng of hobos, drug addicts and hustlers he encountered in New York, he decided to discover America and hitchhike across the country. His writing was openly autobiographical and he developed a style he referred to as 'spontaneous prose' which he used to record the experiences of the Beat Generation. Kerouac wrote a number of hugely influential and popular novels - most famously the international best-seller On the Road. Among his many other novels are Visions of Cody, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums and Big Sur. As much as anything, he came to represent a philosophy, a way of life. He died in 1969. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (June 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140179062
• ISBN-13: 978-0140179064
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #350,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), the central figure of the Beat Generation, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1922 and died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1969. Among his many novels are On the Road, The Dharma Bums, Big Sur, and Visions of Cody.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jack's Best Kept Secret, March 12, 2003

By 

Birdman (Minnetonka, MN USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Maggie Cassidy (Mass Market Paperback)

When Kerouac was good he was superb. This is young love in a glorious, mind-bending nutshell. Beautifully written and deeply felt.

When I was much younger and had experienced my first brutal betrayal in life, this novel was my greatest comfort. Kerouac had uncanny vision into the human heart, and was capable of expressing the awful paradox of young love, the joy and pain of it, it terms that were never sentimental, and often quietly heroic.

A poetic, lovely book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a better portrayal of adolescence than Holden Caulfield, May 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Maggie Cassidy (Mass Market Paperback)

If you are a fan of Kerouac then this is a must. It is more lyrical and poetic than ON THE ROAD, yet not as difficult to read as Lonesome Traveller. I enjoyed the first person narrative and was keen to see the switch to third person in the closing chapter as J.D. leaves adolescence behind. Kerouac artfully captures the feelings that accompany a burgeoning love affair even if the characters are only 17. I would highly recommend!

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a "sneaky quiet sprint" through a teen love story, June 15, 2001

By 

NotATameLion (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maggie Cassidy (Mass Market Paperback)

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love." (1 John 4:18)

Life is not sanitized and easy. Kerouac knew this from hard-bitten experience. The amazing thing about Jack was that when it was over, he could always sing about it in his books. he does so here in "Maggie Cassidy."

I have felt the kind of stuff Jack talks about in this book. The illusion of teen "love" is one of the most wretched feelings in all the world...its elation is too high...too painful. Its ending is wrenching of the soul...usually quickly followed by the joy of illusory freedom. Still, it sticks your head for years after like an annoying song that won't go away--Keroauc gets all this down in one hundred and ninety-four pages...amazing.

Get this book. I recommend it highly to all who've been stung by what they thought was love when they were young.