Kerouac Dharma Bums

[robot_mel]

thought this was very enjoyable. I always feel a bit trepidations reading books about Buddhism by westerners, but Kerouac had won me over by referring to Zen Buddhism as Chan in Big Sur so thought I’d read this to see what it was like. Love of nature and hiking are probably not my favourite topics for a book, but still I found this enjoyable. I did go and find the Chinese poet they were reading, and enjoyed reading his poems. There were interesting contrasts between the isolation of the mountains and the crazy parties at their friends. It was interesting to see that his friend lecture him about his alcohol intake, and then forgive him. It felt very odd to have him visit Seattle and know the area he was talking about. The whole ending felt rather dream like and unreal. But still an enjoyable book.