Go
About this book
Go is a 1952 semi-autobiographical novel by John Clellon Holmes. (Holmes referred to the book as a roman à clef.) It is considered to be the first published novel depicting the Beat Generation. Set in New York, it concerns the lives of a collection of characters largely based on the friends Holmes used to hang around with in the 1940s and 1950s in Manhattan. An underworld of drug-fueled parties, bars, clubs and free love is explored through the eyes of character Paul Hobbes, Holmes representation of himself in the novel. Hobbes is torn between joining his friends in their riotous existence and trying to maintain his relatively stable life and marriage to his wife Kathryn.
Reader Profile
3.8/5 · 1 readers · 311 pages · ≈ 5 h 46 m · Moderate
How long does it take to read Go?
About ≈ 5 h 46 m — 311 pages, assuming roughly 250 words per page at 225 words per minute.
How many pages is Go?
311 pages in its most-read edition.
What genre is Go?
It sits on the Fiction shelves.
Is Go in the public domain?
No — it is still under copyright.
Who wrote Go?
John Clellon Holmes (1926–1988).
“"Last week I got the idea that the one aim of my intercourse with other people is to prevent them from noticing how brittle and will-less I have become," Paul Hobbes was writing.”