The Dharma Bums Audiobook By Jack Kerouac cover art

The Dharma Bums

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The Dharma Bums

By: Jack Kerouac
Narrated by: Allen Ginsberg
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Jack Kerouac's follow up to On the Road read by his fellow Beat Generation icon Allen Ginsberg.

Ray Smith is a young man seeking a life of simplicity and truth. Another young man, Japhy Rhyder, becomes instrumental in leading Ray to Buddhism as they embark upon a spiritual quest. Their journey takes them from the Bohemian parties of San Francisco to the natural beauty of the High Sierra mountains. Through such books as Doctor Sax and The Subterraneans, Jack Kerouac was an inspiration to the beat culture, hippies, and dharma seekers of the 1950s and 60s.

Kerouac first achieved international success with On the Road, a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1957. This was followed by more semi-fictional accounts including The Dharma Bums. In this novel, Ray Smith and Japhy Rhyder serve as stand-ins for Kerouac and poet Gary Snyder, while the Alvah Goldbook character is fellow Beat Generation compatriot Allen Ginsberg.

On this unique recording of The Dharma Bums, two literary giants join forces again as Ginsberg movingly evokes the exultant style of his beloved friend.

©1991 Jack Kerouac (P)1991 Phoenix Books Action & Adventure Biographical Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Biography Fiction Classics
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The book is great and hearing Allen Ginsberg read it should be awesome but with all of Allen's talents, his voice and reading this at his age when he recorded this just does not match the manly bravado which was Jack Kerouac. It would be great to get a more representative voice that feels like Jack telling me his story.

great book needs to be recorded by someone else.

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I didnt know this was abridged when i purchased. Nothing in the item description says so. However Ginsberg is probably the best reader for this captivating and poetic story.

I didnt know this was abridged when i purchased

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on the road part two. with lots of buddism in the mix, just enough humor to keep it from being boring. mind expanding beat litt at its finest.

jack at his best

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The book in itself is definitely a 5-star book, and the narrator is perfect for it (he even sounds a bit tipsy, which suits this book perfectly), but the quality of the sound is pretty bad, at least it was so for me, which is why I give it 4 stars.

All in all, a good book for those who search for the meaning of life and an even greater book for those who have already found out that life's all about having fun.

(It is pretty hard to pay attention to the beginning of the book, where he presents the characters, but it is sort of essential so you really have to concentrate for the first 15 min.)

Excellent book and narrator but bad sound-quality

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I need to read this book I think to give it a proper rating. the narrator was hard to listen to, he reminded me of a carefree William Shatner, complete with emphasis in weird places.

not a fan of the narrator.

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Great book but the narration was really hard to listen to. I wouldn’t listen to it again.

Narration was hard

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A true classic writen by a true literary master read by a great poet of the beat generation.

A true classic by a true master.

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This is just not the true Kerouac experience. You need the whole thing. It is a waste of money.

Don't buy abridged versions of novels.

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I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this. The meditations; the deep introspection; and the lyrical creativity in stringing thoughts and words together to share this experience opened new pathways through my brain and jump started my mind to create memories for myself like these of self discovery.

Enlightened Tome.

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I enjoyed hearing Alan Ginsberg reading Jack Kerouac, but the recording quality wasn’t that great.

Mediocre recording quality

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