--- product_id: 188844512 title: "The Town and the City (Penguin Modern Classics)" brand: "jack kerouac" price: "€ 17.57" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 10 url: https://www.desertcart.hr/products/188844512-the-town-and-the-city-penguin-modern-classics store_origin: HR region: Croatia --- # The Town and the City (Penguin Modern Classics) **Brand:** jack kerouac **Price:** € 17.57 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Town and the City (Penguin Modern Classics) by jack kerouac - **How much does it cost?** € 17.57 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hr](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/188844512-the-town-and-the-city-penguin-modern-classics) ## Best For - jack kerouac enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted jack kerouac brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Full description not available ## Images ![The Town and the City (Penguin Modern Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/7154re9PDpL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Full of fantastic quotes. The first section takes a bit of ... *by A***R on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 October 2014* A real life-changer for me. Full of fantastic quotes. The first section takes a bit of getting through but then it's incredible! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kerouac at his best *by J***D on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 April 2009* Jack kerouac would have made a great film director if he ever had the inclination. The first half dozen pages of the book read like a tracking shot at the beginning of a movie - sweeping across the small town panorama like the lens of a camera, slowly moving into a close up view of the Martin family and the minutiae of their relationships and lives and stuggles in 1940's America. The prose as we have come to expect from Kerouac is at times breathless with the urgency of youth and at others more introspective and philosophical. The characters are finely crafted and realistic given the writers excellent ear for dialogue and no nonense descriptive style, driving the story at a satisfying pace. The book is at once amusing, profound, soulful, and elegiac - the death of Kerouac's own father inspired the scene where family patriarch George Martin dies and is particular raw and heart rending. He set out with the specific intention of creating a great American novel in the style of writer Thomas Woolf who he admired greatly - and sometimes labours under the weight of such expectations. Nevertheless - Kerouac has crafted an engaging and poignant story that deserves its status as a modern classic. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ but I’m not bothered about titles like that – to me *by S***M on Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 December 2015* This is Kerouac as you’ve never seen him before. The Town and the City is his debut novel, and he wrote it long before he developed his trademark stream-of-consciousness style – here we see a different man entirely, a more thoughtful and introverted spirit who nevertheless shows plenty of signs of the potential that he eventually lived up to.In The Town and the City, Kerouac attempted to create his ‘Great American novel‘. Arguably, he was successful, but I’m not bothered about titles like that – to me, it’s just a fantastic piece of work in its own right, a little long perhaps but well worth persevering through.To begin with, I’ll admit that it is plagued a little bit by that nemesis of every sweeping novel before it – there are so many characters that it’s difficult to tell them apart, to begin with. It doesn’t help that they’re all from the same family either, but you do get to know them over time; I’d argue that if anything, that ends up as a good thing overall, because it means that you can re-read it and gain a better appreciation and understanding the second time round.It’s also one of those books in which nothing seems to happen over a long period of time, but that’s the mastery that the writer is showing here – time doesn’t seem to drag, and the characters do develop even while nothing much is changing around them. Anyone can create character growth out of deaths and diseases, but it takes one hell of a writer to create it from conversations and exposition.In fact, I’d argue that this is one of Kerouac’s better works – perhaps not his best (after all, I’m not crazy), but it’s still pretty damn good read, and an impressive debut novel from a man who would later become a legend. The characters are pretty likeable too, once you get used to them, even if they don’t seem quite as interesting as thinly-veiled caricatures of William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.I still think you’re better off starting with On the Road, or perhaps with Vanity of Dulouz, which I personally think is probably his finest piece of work. The Town and the City can wait until you’re ready to delve a little deeper, but don’t forget it altogether – it’s a hidden gem, but it’s a hidden gem that’s better read with a little bit of context.And so I leave you with a quote: “He had never felt anything like that before – yet somehow he knew that from now on he would always feel like that, always, and something caught at his throat as he realized what a strange sad adventure life might get to be, strange and sad and still much more beautiful and amazing than he could ever have imagined because it was so really, strangely sad.” --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.hr/products/188844512-the-town-and-the-city-penguin-modern-classics](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/188844512-the-town-and-the-city-penguin-modern-classics) --- *Product available on Desertcart Croatia* *Store origin: HR* *Last updated: 2026-04-24*