Dr. Sax by Jack Kerouac Reviewed by Steve Rudd

Even hardcore fans of this legendary author might be in two minds about how much they like this novel of his. Jack is best-known for his travel-trained adventures back and forth across the USA (in On The Road, Big Sur and The Dharma Bums for example), and further afield - as in his intoxicating Lonesome Traveller collection of short travellers' tales. The delightfully eccentric Dr. Sax is nothing like any of those aforementioned masterpieces, and instead this focuses on his life growing up in small-town Lowell, Massachusetts. There isn't really a purposeful narrative of any sort and some readers attempting to read this challenging book might give in easily as a result, as Kerouac's writing just doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Still, it is an interesting novel-of-sorts. There might not be much of a story to follow, but Kerouac's extraordinarily unique way with words ensures that there's rarely a dull moment. He often takes to making his own words up, so some entire paragraphs read like unadulterated gibberish - which can prove relatively amusing. Quite how he could write a novel as bizarre and as downright frustrating as this, and then write something of On The Road's life-changing calibre is beyond me, but it just shows that there really were many sides to Jack's talents. Sure, Dr. Sax is in no way even half as exciting as his more famous works, but if you have the patience to progress through Dr. Sax you might just find yourself totally enraptured by the sheer madness of it all. Sure, it might not make much sense in parts, but - for sure - you will never have read anything quite like it. And that's what's perhaps most important: just how unique this book really is. ISBN 9-780802-130495 (Grove Press first published in 1959)

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