On the Road by Jack Kerouac

This book is a tale without a plot, except endless travel and a quest to experience the next experience for its own sake. It is aimless and valueless and yet has a certain morality of its own. Alcohol and drug use are hidden themes, sexual conquest also is understated and always present. A quest for honesty and transparency is juxtaposed with duplicity and lying. The narrator, Sal, is a vague, observing presence. Dean, the protagonist, is ever-present, bigger than life, gradually degenerating into a caricature of himself, a bundle of colliding thoughts and ideas from an amphetamine-like drive. It is obviously a book that is either opening up a new generation or describing the first scenes of a radical change. The young men have no discernible parents. While by today's standards their nonconformity is tame, by the standards of the day they were wild. The seeds of cultural decay are on every page and the harvest is now apparent.