Visions of Gerard

Unique among Jack Kerouac's novels, Visions of Gerard focuses on the scenes and sensations of childhood - the wisdom, anguish, intensity, innocence, evil, insight, suffering, delight, and shock - as they were revealed in the short, tragic yet happy life of his saintly brother, Gerard. Set in Kerouac's hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts, it is an unsettling beautiful, and sad exploration of the meaning and precariousness of existence.