Maggie Cassidy (original 1959; edição 1993)

> Un autre bon roman de Kerouac, on y retrouve ses thèmes chers, la famille, l'amitié, Lowell sa ville natale, l'amour d'une Amérique de l'entre deux guerre où de jeunes adolescents goûtent à une vie d'insouciance et de premiers émois qui les dépassent un peu. Une Maggie pure mais complexe, entière mais impossible, qui lui fera dire qu'elle est la seule femme qu'il a vraiment aimé. --Danieljean (Babelio)

This was another great book by Kerouac. The autobiographical details that are mixed in this ring of truth and a sense of purity for the development of his main character- and himself. It spells out what it means to have loved, someone's first love, and lost it alongside growing up. Kerouac writes from the heart here, and in a poetic style of prose that is palatable to the reader. I was quite impressed with this- Kerouac did not hold back. Through his efforts, he turned this into something memorable, and accessible, for all readers.

4 stars- well earned! ( )

Least favorite book of Kerouac's I've ever read.

It took me nearly three weeks to get through it, I just had to put it down constantly because I couldn't get through it in a sitting. ( )

The spontaneous prose in Maggie Cassidy is certainly more self-evident than in On the Road. However, Neil Cassidy's verve sustains the plot whereas Maggie Cassidy is considerably more beat and indeed, more artistic. This style would be exceedingly difficult to imitate! ( )

My least favorite of Kerouacs books. That being said, I still enjoyed it. I read it as a senior in high school, during my obsessive for beatnik literature days. An obsession that continued, with less intensity, throughout my life. This is Kerouac before the drugs and the jazz. It's him in high school as a quarterback. Its amazing because I felt a lot of similarities in the feelings and experiences I had in my hometown, which was also small. And this is neat because it was written in 1939, and it still had relevance. For a 18 year old girl in 2005 to have felt a similarity to a 1939 Jack Kerouac, is just beyond cool. ( )