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I read it at 14 and it hit home with me right away. But then I recommended it to my then friend and she didn't get it. She said "nothing happened in it". And I

I read it at 14 and it hit home with me right away. But then I recommended it to my then friend and she didn't get it. She said "nothing happened in it". And I can see her point now there was no plot, just wandering. To me, there were "scenes" I could imagine myself having liked to be part of, like the guys traveling on truck-bed drinking whisky to keep cold away. I wonder if it was more a "guy's novel" than for girls?

mock-possum 1y ago
With the way girls were treated by the guys in the novel? Yeah, totally. A certain kind of guys’ novel, anyway. Not my kind, as I was disappointed to discover.
- philipallstar 1y ago
  "Only misogynists could like this novel" is pretty reductive.
  - ethersteeds 1y ago
    It is, but it's your reduction. The discussion is about a novel whose main appeal is described as "scenes one can imagine themselves in" with "more style than substance". That's a valid thing to enjoy, but not for everyone. The idea that it appeals to boys and not girls was conflicted with further nuance: while girls might be hard pressed to see themselves in it, so too would some boys. While one can make the argument that the beats' values and writings are at least complimentary to misogyny, that wasn't the discussion happening here previously.
    - philipallstar 1y ago
      > while girls might be hard pressed to see themselves in it, so too would some boys. That's the same thing, in this context. Saying "only some boys could see themselves in books where men mistreat women" is basically the same thing I'm criticising.
kikokikokiko 1y ago
Not a "guy novel" at all. I read it around 20 and just thought it was a waste of time, nothing happened, just wandering around aimlessly like 90% of my buddies on their teenage years. The whole beat movement was just style over substance, pages and pages of nothing.
- galaxyLogic 1y ago
  I guess I liked it because I was living in a small town and eager to see more of the world and people, get away from "small-town mentality". And hang out with "the cool guys" of course. I still think they were cool.

mock-possum 1y ago

With the way girls were treated by the guys in the novel? Yeah, totally. A certain kind of guys’ novel, anyway. Not my kind, as I was disappointed to discover.

philipallstar 1y ago
"Only misogynists could like this novel" is pretty reductive.
- ethersteeds 1y ago
  It is, but it's your reduction. The discussion is about a novel whose main appeal is described as "scenes one can imagine themselves in" with "more style than substance". That's a valid thing to enjoy, but not for everyone. The idea that it appeals to boys and not girls was conflicted with further nuance: while girls might be hard pressed to see themselves in it, so too would some boys. While one can make the argument that the beats' values and writings are at least complimentary to misogyny, that wasn't the discussion happening here previously.
  - philipallstar 1y ago
    > while girls might be hard pressed to see themselves in it, so too would some boys. That's the same thing, in this context. Saying "only some boys could see themselves in books where men mistreat women" is basically the same thing I'm criticising.

kikokikokiko 1y ago

Not a "guy novel" at all. I read it around 20 and just thought it was a waste of time, nothing happened, just wandering around aimlessly like 90% of my buddies on their teenage years. The whole beat movement was just style over substance, pages and pages of nothing.

galaxyLogic 1y ago
I guess I liked it because I was living in a small town and eager to see more of the world and people, get away from "small-town mentality". And hang out with "the cool guys" of course. I still think they were cool.