Why read The Voice Is All?

Book cover of The Voice Is All: The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac

Book description

A groundbreaking portrait of Kerouac as a young artist—from the award-winning author of Minor Characters

In The Voice is All, Joyce Johnson, author of her classic memoir, Door Wide Open, about her relationship with Jack Kerouac, brilliantly peels away layers of the Kerouac legend to show how, caught between two…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Voice Is All as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

D.B.C. Pierre

Author

We all grew up with the legends of Jack Kerouac and the Beats, and I love those legends.

Now here is the day-to-day truth behind how it all happened, how the Beats came together, and how Kerouac’s masterpiece On The Road was actually written. Joyce Johnson – a girlfriend of Kerouac’s with access to his daily journals – is an exceptional writer herself, which makes the paradigm shift of this book a joy to read.

I loved Kerouac’s old legend; now I love the facts behind it, and feel closer to his works than ever.

From D.B.C.'s 3 favorite reads in 2023.