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Tristessa
  
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Tristessa (Paperback)

by Jack Kerouac (Author) "I'M RIDING ALONG with Tristessa in the cab, drunk, with big bottle of Juarez Bourbon whiskey in the till-bag railroad lootbag they'd accused me of..." (more)
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

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First Sentence
I'M RIDING ALONG with Tristessa in the cab, drunk, with big bottle of Juarez Bourbon whiskey in the till-bag railroad lootbag they'd accused me of holding in railroad 1952-here I am in Mexico City, rainy Saturday night, mysteries, old dream sidestreets with no names reeling in, the little street where I'd walked through crowds of gloomy Hobo Indians wrapped in tragic shawls enough to make you cry and you thought you saw knives flashing beneath the folds-lugubrious dreams as tragic as the one of Old Railroad Night where my father sits big of thighs in smoking car of night, outside's a brakeman with red light and white light, lumbering in the sad vast mist tracks of life-but now I'm up on that Vegetable plateau Mexico, the moon of Citlapol a few nights earlier I'd stumbled to on the sleepy roof on the way to the ancient dripping stone toilet-Tristessa is high, beautiful as ever, goin home gayly to go to bed and enjoy her morphine. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Romance that could never Be, Nov 9 2003
By William Bradford "hipster818" (Palos Park, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tristessa (Paperback)
The first thing that struck me about this book was the way it ends. It ends with an ellipsis. How many books to you read that end like that? Not many would be my guess. As for the story this book is more about the voice of Kerouac. He is exposing more of himself than in any other book. The book is less about a story and more about to be Kerouac in Mexico, without anything to give him comfort. Rather he is lost in himself, drunk and confused. He finds a woman who he wants to be with. Someone he can hold someone her can touch, yet the problems lies in the fact that he can't tell her.

Yet you can read between the lines and see a man who is giving up upon himself. Faced with uncertainty, wavering from his strong Buddhist beliefs. This book is more personal than I ever knew. This book can almost be seen as Kerouac moving against what he believed. Everything comes into question. The fact that Tristessa is addicted to drugs, plays on the point of what is he to do? On the one hand he loves her and on the other he can't bring himself to tell her that.

I have loved this book from the first time I read it when I was a junior in high school. The beauty of this book is amazing can never be stated enough. This is a must read for any Kerouac fan.

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5.0 out of 5 stars If I could only . . ., Oct 11 2006
By Real Name Attribution (There you are . . .) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tristessa (Paperback)
. . . recommend three books that you should read, "Tristessa" would be one of them. The other two? McCrae's "Katzenjammer" and Burrough's "Naked Lunch." Are any of them alike? No. But that's the point. All are different, yet all three break new ground. "Tristessa" is one of my favs, though, and I do like other Kerouacs as well. The story of a Mexican prostitute and a little bit of everything else, this is probably Kerouac's most "romantic" effort, and that's a stretch. Not a long book, it is nevertheless an amazing portrait of "ships that pass in the night" missing each other. Not just for those who are into the "beat" generation, "Tristessa" is more from the heart than any other Kerouac novel.
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5.0 out of 5 stars On Tristessa, April 21 2004
This review is from: Tristessa (Paperback)
Well, Jack Kerouac does it again with his beautifully melancholic, poetic prose. His descriptions of something as simple as the floor where he stays is enough to draw tears. His wonderfully drug-induced rantings of the beauty of "morphina" and the Virgin Mary Statuette are emotionally charged enough to make anyone a spiritual drug-addicted Buddhist with Catholic images and intense philosophical thought. Definitely worth reading.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing romantic novel!
The basic story line in this book surrounded a junky Mexican prostitute named Tristessa of whom Jack(Kerouac's "alias") has fallen madly in love with. Read more
Published on Aug 14 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars true "beat" romance novel
The length (short) of this novel causes it to be very efficient and effective. This story puts the MILLIONS of "Romance junk novels" to shame. Read more
Published on Jan 7 2003 by S. Simpson

4.0 out of 5 stars Near greatness.
I have yet to read a perfect Kerouac novel that I can say I unreservedly like. Nonetheless, there is something in his writing that keeps me coming back to book after imperfect... Read more
Published on Aug 6 2002 by Angry Mofo

4.0 out of 5 stars A story of love and suffering
Jack Kerouac's "Tristessa" is a short novel about an American poet (named, like the author, Jack) and his love for Tristessa, a Mexico City drug addict. Read more
Published on April 19 2002 by Michael J. Mazza

5.0 out of 5 stars A Poet's Soul
Kerouac is at his best when he writes of his adentures amongst
the downtrodden people of misfortune. Read more
Published on Feb 3 2002 by Patrick Julian Cassidy

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant
Possibly Kerouac's shortest work, probably one of his greatest. In Tristessa, Kerouac dives deep into the meaning of things, the meaning of life and why we are all born to suffer... Read more
Published on Jan 24 2002 by Jarrett Hayman

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating insight into a beat icon
This is among the best of Kerouac's works, revealing the competing world views of the beat rebels. Tristessa is a Mexico City junkie whom Kerouac loves; a junkie he sees in the... Read more
Published on Oct 22 2000 by M. J. Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars On The Road......Eat My Shorts!!
Pseudo-Intellectuals think "On The Road" is Kerouac's...you know, "holy grail" so to speak. Wrongo! Tristessa (am I pronouncing that right? Read more
Published on Aug 31 2000 by Jim Hollenberg

5.0 out of 5 stars painfully orgasmic
sad alleys, soiled lives, irrepressible passion diluted with the bottle, with morphine, and all that that makes art of despondency. Read more
Published on Aug 7 2000 by Toom

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than On The Road!
One of Kerouac's best works. get drunk, high, and walk the mean Mexico streets with Tristessa, El Indio, and Kerouac. A Must read! Bop for the eyes.
Published on May 17 2000 by Jay Marvin

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