Since I am mentioned in the book, page 105 unnamed and having had the pleasure of knowing Bill Saroyan, I find that the son very accurately chronicled his father's life.. In later years, I made no effort to see Saroyan since I was sure he was not the same G.I. I had known in 1944. People change unfortunately.Great Book and a good tribute son to father...

This is among the best of Kerouac's works, revealing the competing world views of the beat rebels. Tristessa is a Mexico City junkie whom Kerouac loves; a junkie he sees in the Buddhist light "life is suffering." The book opens in her home - a hovel in disarray populated by chickens, dog, junkies, an altar to Our Lady, and a dove. It ends with the recognition that only fellow junkies can truly understand another junky - that a vagabond, drunk artist may depict and love but never truly understand.

The book's strength is in the passages that reflect most directly the author's mental life - coherent or incoherent - and the role of Buddhism and Catholicism in that mental life. The book also has a secondary strength of providing insight into the beatniks' rebellion - the shape in took in those who, like Kerouac, seem never to have found a peaceful relationship to the world (in conparison to Gary Synder or Phillip Whalen, for example).

Not a book destined to be "top ten of the century", but an interesting read.

Amidst the chaos and debris of dismal Mexico City Kerouac tells us the stroy of his most intense love for the lovely but flawed Junky, Tristessa. This is Kerouac at his most poignant and this is the best glimpse he ever gave his readers into his soul. But don't read this book if you're a manic depressive, it might drive you over the edge. One has to wonder if Tristessa could have made Jack happy. Some people are addicted to self-destruction.

Kerouac has fallen in and out of cult hero worship, for many reasons. He was the forefather of the spectacularly popular Beat Generation, his books are full of raw energy and rebellion, and he died of a brain hemorrhage watching "The Galloping Gourmet". These are all wonderful reasons to read "On the Road" or "Subterraneans". Do not read "Tristessa" for these reasons. Read "Tristessa" for its pure Kerouac voice, for its wonderful hollow music which echoes the wildest romantic poets, the heroin-desperate streets of Mexico City, and the soul of Kerouac himself. This is Kerouac's most haunting, melodic, and starkly religious work, the story of true love and the lie of love, the story of hope and of the crush of drugs, poverty and despair. To read this book is to be Kerouac, to be crazy-drunk with no place to sleep and no money to eat, but to be crying with happiness because the woman you love is unconscious in the gutter beside you. You can hear the words inside your head long after you close the book... "shouldna done it Lord, Awakenerhood, shouldna played the suffering-and-dying game with the children in your own mind, shoulda whistled for the music and danced..." "I love her but the song is---broken---"

For any true fans of Jack Kerouac, this book marks the end of a semi-productive career for this writer. Several years after On The Road, Big Sur provides a dark and twisted reflection of the more jovial and adventurous atmosphere to On The Road. The Duluoz Legend was never so grim, nor so sober as in this installation to the saga that was Jack Kerouac. People from Kerouac's daily life make candid appearances throughout the book through characterized aliases. Ferlinghetti appears as Montrose, yet the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco is mentioned the same as in real life. In this story, Kerouac comes to terms with himself, and what his life has really meant over the past years. Through the advice of friends, and by a drunken depression, Jack Duluoz(Kerouac) appears as the truly tragic figure he was near the end of his life in St. Petersburg, FL. I feel it safe to say that in this instance, art truly imitates life. I recommend this book to anyone, mostly to those who've read On The Road, and more specifically to those who have become influenced through the writings of this 20th Century legend.

It has been about seven years since I have read this book, but it remains my favorite book by my favorite author of novels. The reason I give this review is because I am about to embark on a critical analysis of it for class. I hope that I come out of this sea of emotion with my breath still even!

Out of all of his books this one portrays the crux of Kerouac's life dilemma. If one wants to read unbridled travel narrative, then s/he should go to "On the Road". If one wants to capture all the splendor of the youthful Beat mysticism at its prime, then "Dharma Bums" is likely the best bet. For sheer emotiveness, however, "Big Sur" is possibly without parallel in American literature.

There is one scene that overflows with passion and entreaty to the cosmos. He is involved in a tortuous love affair as he attempts to get off of alcohol. All of this yearning and pathos piles into his psyche and all his mind can do is scream. I don't know about all of the rest of us, but this is a way that I have felt in my life. I am glad there is a novelist like Kerouac who succeeded in publicizing the essential anguish of the American tradition.

If anyone wants to correspond with me on the matter of this book and others by him, please do so. Fresh and contemporary voices will add immeasurable breadth and meaning to my research project. Good day!

For those of you have read "On the Road" this book will not compare. In Big Sur Jack Kerouac is no longer a free-spirited youth in search of the Beat "Ideals" of freedom and life lived for the moment. Instead Kerouac finds himself lost in a generation that he began but no longer understands nor do they understand him. It is clear in the writing in this book that Kerouac is bordering on insanity. He is ravished by alcohol and is able to bring you into his mind so vividly that you cannot help but feel apart of him.

Although extremely gritty and dark at times the book also has some beautiful passages where Kerouac simply describes his surroundings that nearly left me in tears. The writing conveys thought and feeling that I have experienced before.

After reading this I truely feeling that is book is part of who I am, never has a book effected my outlook on life and the world we live in.

This is a fascinating book about three fascinating women who had been best friends since childhood. One woman, Gloria Vanderbilt, has a reputation that speaks for itself. Oona is the daughter of Eugene O'Neill, and she married Charlie Chaplin, who was decades older than she was. They had a long and happy marriage, and many children together. Carol Matthau's first husband was William Saroyan, and she is the mother of the author. After a disastrous first marriage, she married Walter Matthau before he was either rich or famous. Collectively, the three young women personified the concept of synergy, of one plus one plus one adding up to much more than simply three. They all were the debutantes of Cafe Society in New York in that happy moment just after the end of World War II, the favorites of the gossip columns of that era. Aram Saroyan has written a touching valentine to his mother and her best friends.

I'm just about finished with this book and it's fascinating. The book starts with the three girls as teenager's and you soon realize that these famous women are very human just like the rest of us. They deal with love, relationships, children, and careers. Granted, they started out on a higher monetary level (for the most part) and associated and socialized with the more privileged, but their fears, woes, etc. were the same as anyones.

This is a pleasing book for all of you with consciences. Personally, it kind of bugged ME. OK, well first of all, let me introduce myself. I am Mr. Garden, a hobo who lives in Iowa. I live in a barn, and this is the one book that is in my possession at this moment. But, I was just thinking, why would someone write words that don't even mean?

I am a high school student, and we read an excerpt from this book in our literature class. I immediately was intrigued by Saroyan's method of writing and the fact that his novels are autobiographical. This is a story of Aram Garoghlanian, a boy living in Fresno with his large family of Armenian immigrants. Throughout the book, such ideas are touched upon as maturity, honesty, and acceptance. My Name is Aram is a portrait not only of Aram Garoghlanian and William Saroyan himself, but Americans in general. Americans struggle with basic values and ideas everyday, and accepting our eccentric family members is something we learn to do. Saroyan describes small details in hi writing that bring the story to life and open up a new world. Readers will soon realize when they open this novel that each of us holds Aram inside us, whether it means we struggle with the idea of stealing a horse or keeping the families reputation. I strongly recommend this book to anyone.

At first when I read the first page,I thought that it is a very good book for everybody. After I read all of them, Iam filled with admiration. It tell us "THE LIFE OF AN ARMENIAN FAMILY IN THE BEAUTIFUL SAN JUAQUIN VALLEY". It is a very fun and easy book to read.

i like to read poetry of aram saroyan

My name is Rick Jackson. If you read the acknowledgements, you'll see me listed as a contributor. I am currently married to Andrea (Sand) Mims, who continutes to serve a life sentence after being falsely convicted of 1st degree murder. The Andrea depicted in "Rancho Mirage" is not the Andrea I know and love. Saroyan painted a very negative picture of her based on transcripts, police reports, and interviews with prosecution witnesses. A history of Andrea's life and a little investigation would have revealed a very different story. I would like to write a follow-up book, tentatively to be titled "Rape of an Angel." I would welcome the assistance of any writer able to help in this project