The Sea is My Brother: The Lost Novel

(Paperback)

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Now in paperback, The Sea is My Brother is Jack Kerouac's first novel The Sea is My Brother is Jack Kerouac's first novel. Described by Kerouac as being about 'man's simple revolt from society as it is, with the inequalities, frustration, and self-inflicted agonies', the 158-page handwritten manuscript was not published during his lifetime. He wrote in his notes for the project that the characters were 'the vanishing American, the big free by, the American Indian, the last of the pioneers, the last of the hoboes'. The novel follows the fortunes of Wesley Martin, a man who Kerouac said 'loved the sea with a strange, lonely love; the sea is his brother and sentences. He goes down.'

Reviews

"Kirkus Reviews," 2/1/12
"A Jack London-esque yarn."

"Publishers Weekly," 1/30/12
"While it may not be the Rosetta Stone of the beat movement, the publication of this flawed manuscript will be an event for [Kerouac's] admirers."
"Booklist," 3/1/12
"Read this first effort to watch Kerouac learning the ropes."
"Entertainment Weekly," 3/2/12
"You'll see hints of the bebop prose that would later pour out of Kerouac's typewriter so effortlessly."

"Cleveland Plain Dealer," 3/11/12
"Rarely does talking seem as much like action as it does in "The Sea Is My Brother." The characters' words fire the imagination. If they don't move you, to quote Louis Jordan, 'Jack, you dead'...There is a song inside "The Sea Is My Brother," a song for anyone who has ever looked over the horizon and thought, 'I'm gonna get out of here someday.'"
"Tampa"" Bay"" Times," 3/11/12
"For a glimpse of Kerouac crossing the boundary from boy to man, fans can now turn to his first novel."
"Wall Street Journal," 3/20/12
"["The Sea Is My Brother"] offers plenty of disarming insights into who Kerouac was as a person and writer before he slipped behind the mask of Beat Generation Zen-master...The book is enjoyable"
Litreactor.com, 3/20/12
""The Sea is My Brother" is a fascinating read, both in its own right and as part of Kerouac's canon."
"New York"" Post," 3/18/12
"There are plenty of hints of the Kerouac to come."
Blurt-Online, 3/12/12
"["The Sea is My Brother"] is perhaps the best of the posthumous releases....Could be considered the skeleton that would become gems."

"Huffington Post," 3/23/12
"Fans of the "On the Road" author will be fascinated by the glimpse into Kerouac's early writing mind."

"January Magazine," 3/22/12
"For his admirers and students of his style, the book is a worthwhile read."
"National Post "(Canada), 3/25/12
"A fores

Author Bio

Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1922. In 1947, enthused by bebop, the rebel attitude of his friend Neal Cassady, and the throng of hobos, drug addicts and hustlers he encountered in New York, he decided to discover America and hitchhike across the country. His writing was openly autobiographical and he developed a style he referred to as 'spontaneous prose', which he used to record the experiences of the Beat Generation. Among his many novels are On the Road, Visions of Cody, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums and Big Sur. He died in 1969.