The Awakener
Subtitle: A Memoir of Kerouac and the Fifties
By: Helen Weaver.
Publisher: City Lights Books
Published: November 1, 2009
Place of publication: San Francisco, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 260
ISBN-13: 9780872865051
Subjects: Weaver, Helen; Kerouac, Jack, -- 1922-1969; Ginsberg, Allen, -- 1926-1997; Bruce, Lenny; Beat generation; Authors, American -- 20th century -- Biography; New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1951-
Genres: Biography
Description: "Twenty years in the writing, Weaver's memoir of her life in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s is worth the wait. With a cast of characters including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Lenny Bruce, the book recreates a time of radical change and great possibility--especially for a young woman escaping a repressive upbringing. While the author's account of her romantic relationship with Kerouac (she appears in Kerouac's Desolation Angels) takes up a substantial part of the book, it's far from the only good story she has to tell. Weaver brings readers into her apartment as she listens to records of Lenny Bruce, explaining why the comic's routines had such a great impact on her and others, and then she shares the tale of her quick affair with the man himself. This lively, intelligent, and revealing book will appeal to anyone interested in the Beat Generation and the 1960s counterculture Annotation ♭2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)."