Visions of Gerard

by Jack Kerouac

Book Overview

The first novella in Jack Kerouac's Duluoz Legend, detailing the writer's early life as refracted through the prism of the untimely loss of his brother

"The earliest and most heartfelt chapter of Kerouac's fictionalized autobiography."--Ann Charters

"His life . . . ended when he was nine and the nuns of St. Louis de France Parochial School were at his bedside to take down his dying words because they'd heard his astonishing...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140144528
• ISBN13: 9780140144529
• Release Date: June 1991
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Touching and sad.

I first discovered Jack Kerouac when a friend of mine was going on and on about this book "On the Road" that he had read, only this past November. I picked up the book and read it, I was floored, and I've read eight more of his novels since that time.'Visions of Gerard' is a touching story of Jack's older brother Gerard who dies a sad death at 9 years old but seems to live a more beautiful life than most of us can claim to have in twice as much time in my case, and of course, in others seven or eight times.Gerard's optimism, appreciation of everything, and just pure kindness in the book makes it for a beautiful, touching novel that everyone should read. There's no excuse not to, it's very short, but it pulls you in so quickly! It's hard not to be sad, but it's hard not to be happy, a beautiful book.

Amazing Book

In high school my girfriend was a fan of Kerouac and I thought I might as well know what she is talking about. So i went out and bought this book, because it was short - if i didn't like it the book would be over with quick. I was amazed at the beauty of the book. The beauty lies with how Kerouac describes the world around him. This is scene with how the book starts with Kerouac describing his death, and how Kerouac was trying to deal with the loss.Kerouac does bring Buddhist into the mix and at times I'm not sure where he is going with it, but you want to follow him and see where he well go next. Visions of Gerard is different then some of his other works (Maggie Cassidy, Vanity of Duluoz..) because it speaks to loss, saddness and the remembering of a loved one.In all this is not a bad book. There are better Kerouac books out there but for something different this is a must read.

Un bel hommage

In this novel, written between ON THE ROAD and DHARMA BUMS, Thomas Wolfe's influence on Kerouac's style is keenly felt. Haunting elaborations on scene and setting, branching off into Beat perfect interior monologues are all arrows pointing to Gerard the Angel, Gerard the holy savant. Great, uniquely Kerouac scenes find Emil, the father, drinking with vaudeville buddies. These passages howl with card game hip flasks and midnight fire escapes, and provide a nice break from the weight of the loss everyone awaits. When it comes, we each have the heart that breaks. The novel ends abruptly, as it should, as if to illustrate how ill-prepared we all are facing the end. Kerouac's free jazz interpretation of Wolfe here seems the perfect style for his (almost) inexplicable loss. The "first draft" feel of passages are actually a strength in that they both exemplify Kerouac's unique flair and reach the reader as the disjointed thoughts and feelings that arise in the midst of suffering. We feel the pain in broken passages and the sometimes illogical structure, but Kerouac uses these in such a way as to actually heighten our experience of his tale. It is a gamble that the author, I believe, ultimately wins.

Kerouac's personal vulnerabilities come through

I've been a fan of Kerouac's work for years. This was perhaps the last of his books that I read. What struck me immediately was Jack's vulnerability, more pronounced than in any other of his works. This is the story of a childhood wronged by the passing of a loved sibling, and I could only sit and think of my own young life, and the death of one of my siblings whom I loved with all my heart. This speaks to anyone who knew the poignancy of pain while young. It is, on one side, a narrative of the causes behind one's own personal declines; on the other side, a prosaical examination of a boy's angelic regard for the kindness of his brother. I loved this book, just as I love all of Kerouac's works. But this single work seems to exemplify Jack's most beautiful side...

Kerouac remembers his brother poetically

Beautifully poetic, Kerouac remembers his brother, Gerard, who died when Kerouac was very young. Birds perch on window sills, while Gerard talks to them, contemplates the world, questions war and wonders why a God would allow anything to die. Kerouac pays homage in short beautiful chapters, which I read over and over again, before turning to the next one. Kerouac blends his Catholic upbringing, with his Buddhist adulthood, and makes one of the most uniquely poetic and religious novels of the 20th Century