Nobody's Wife: The Smart Aleck and the King of Beats

by Joan Haverty Kerouac, Jan Kerouac (Introduction)

It was 1950. Strikingly beautiful twenty-year-old Joan Haverty had arrived in New York City and was working as a seamstress. During a deteriorating attempt to reconcile with her lover, fate intervened when joan heard a stranger's voice calling up to her loft from the street below-it was Jack Kerouac, needing the door unlocked so he could get to a party.

Thus began Joan's stormy romance with and brief marriage to the leather-jacketed archangel of the Beat Generation. She bore his tirades, his passion, his troubled poetic genius, and also bore his child while Kerouac was writing his great signature novel On the Road.

Genres: Biography, Memoir

216 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

Joan Haverty Kerouac, née Joan Virginia Haverty, was the second wife of Jack Kerouac and the mother of Jan Kerouac. She was the model for the character Laura in On the Road.

Reviews

[GK Stritch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody's Wife is worth the read.

Jack asks Joan, "Don't you ever laugh?" Not too many laughs in this book, and perhaps not many in Joan's life, which seems to have been an unhappy one. Perhaps the only real affection she knew was from a grandfather. Joan reiterates throughout the book that she doesn't feel pain, which is not completely explained, and there seems to be a great deal that isn't explained in this 216-page book, and little is revealed about her childhood. For example, it isn't clear why teenage Joan's mother allowed her to associate with a much older man. There remain hidden stories and unanswered questions here.

The book relates how Joan met Bill Cannastra, and the ambiguous relationship with that wild man, and mentions a few other unfulfilled relationships. And, of course, Joan tells about the unfortunate, seven-month marriage between her and Jack Kerouac--highly unsuitable marriage material. Jack, and even bigoted, uneducated Gabe, come across in a not so terrible way, and it's actually poor Joan who seems the somewhat cold and odd duck.

Neal Cassady appears in his most vivid and exuberant cowboy self, as Joan seems to have liked him and certainly understood his appeal.

Thumbs up for a fast, compelling read, however, the writing is somewhat stilted, and in need of a good editor. Nevertheless, it's a sad and touching account of a young woman doing her best with undeveloped skills--Joan possessed sewing and design abilities and a love of fabric and color--and a look at the short time Jack and Joan spent together, with cameos by major Beat players.

The "Smart Aleck" in the title is Joan.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her writing is better than Parker's (Kerouac's first wife and author of her own memoirs), but having read daughter Jan Kerouac's books, I would have liked to read more about Joan's life AFTER Kerouac. However, I guess that would not have been as marketable.

[Jeff Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joan is not a great writer but if you're interested in the beat generation, as I am, then this book is a must read. Joan Haverty was Jack Kerouac's wife. He was living in her apartment in New York City while he was writing "On the Road". Joan is also the mother of Kerouac's only child Jan Kerouac. In fact Jan found the manuscript for this book after her mother had died. As a student of the beat generation I am glad that Jan finally got her mother's story published.

[Kennedy Spitzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t lie, this ended up being a really well written memoir. Haverty’s internal thought is often choppy and not fully thought out. Not to mention the fact that the first 70 pages are kind of hard to get through. But once she gets going it is really good. She is amazing at writing dialogue and capturing the essence of a person in their phrasing and subtle movements.

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

simple descriptive writing from the 2nd wife of kerouac. an appreciated look into the other side of his life from the less known (at least to me) point of view of someone who did not/does not worship him.

[Mikelkpoet · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read. A fun book. Interesting to learn that Kerouac was such an ass.