Uyen Le_O Le_O থেকে Galleywood, Chelmsford, Chelmsford, Essex CM2, UK
This may be the day dreamer's handbook and a road map for anyone who has ever grown up and felt the world shift through the eyes of another. This is beat writing at its best, but there's no politics and spirituality; there's satisfaction in that mystifying poetry of love's unmeasurable angle. Maggie Cassidy draws you in with an enticing narrative frame that clicks the zoom lens down to Zagg's formative years in a lucid dream. It's one that I personally recognised - being amongst the fog while emerging into life - whatever that means. I've fallen for girls like Maggie (I suspect a lot of others have too) and throughout this tale there are many moments of recognition. The boy grows up while the girl keeps her head in the clouds. It's tragic - it's beautiful - it's poetic - it's real. With elegance Kerouac has documented the flow of infatuation with a masterful hand. He once again creates vast landscapes with words that are noisy, silent, colourful, bleak and visceral. A must read for any Kerouac fan.