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November 01, 2005: I highly recommend 'Kerouac in Florida: Where the Road Ends'. This book brings to light details of a critical time in Jack Kerouac's writing career and personal life. The reader comes along on Bob Kealing's expertly researched and documented investigation into Kerouac's Florida connections, and his life in the Sunshine state. Kerouac himself never wrote extensively of these times in Florida as he did of many other parts of his 'Legend of Dulouz', his own life story. We see Kerouac on the verge of fame, and then see him as he comes out of the other end of the tunnel after the publication of 'On the Road'. We see his struggle to come to terms with his public persona, his struggles with his own family and the sad end of the road. This book is a great read, each chapter revealing more and more detail of the artist who has gathered so much attention, positive and negative, over the last 50 years. Drawing on well documented interviews with neighbors, friends, drinking buddies and aquaintances of Kerouac, as well as Kerouac's own writings and letters, 'Kerouac in Florida' paints a portrait of the 'King of the Beat Generation' that has not been seen before. By visiting where he lived in Florida we get a sense of how he lived. First hand accounts of people who knew him on a day to day basis provide some of the most telling details of Kerouac's lifestyle and comportment. It is not what you may think. Bob Kealing's work on this book was also instrumental in establishing the house where Kerouac banged out his follow up to 'On the Road', 'The Dharma Bums', as a historically significant landmark. This house in the College Park section of Orlando, Florida is now home to The Kerouac Project, a house where writers in residenence are provided the opportunity to create. This book includes never before published photographs of Jack Kerouac that show the man at work in his Florida tin roofed back porch apartment, creating in his own unique manner. I could not put this book down.
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July 06, 2005: Bob Kealing's 'Kerouac In Florida' is a major contribution to not only the cultural heritage of central Florida but to Kerouac's biography as well. Though he spent years in Florida, these periods of Kerouac's life have been lucky to get a paragraph in most biographies. After years of research, Kealing has finally told the story of Kerouac's lost years. The book is rich with personal recollections from people who knew Kerouac in Florida and information on current efforts to establish and preserve Kerouac's place in the history of central Florida. A must-read for anyone interested in Kerouac the author and Kerouac the man.