Come and Join the Dance

A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Coming of Age, Contemporary Women, Literary
Cover of the book Come and Join the Dance by Joyce Johnson, Open Road Media
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Joyce Johnson ISBN: 9781480481190
Publisher: Open Road Media Publication: June 17, 2014
Imprint: Open Road Media Language: English
Author: Joyce Johnson
ISBN: 9781480481190
Publisher: Open Road Media
Publication: June 17, 2014
Imprint: Open Road Media
Language: English

The daring debut of the Beat Generation’s first woman novelist

It’s 1955. Seven days before her graduation from Barnard College, Susan Levitt asks herself, “What if you lived your entire life without urgency?” just before going out to   make things happen to her that will shatter the mask of conformity concealing her feelings of alienation. If Susan continues to be “good,” marriage and security await her. But her hunger is rising for the self-discovery that comes from existential freedom.   

After breaking up with the Columbia boy she knows she could marry, Susan seeks out those she considers “outlaws”: the brave and fragile Kay, who has moved into a rundown hotel, in order to “see more than fifty percent when I walk down the street”; the vulnerable adolescent rebel Anthony; and Peter, the restless hipster graduate student who has become the object of Kay’s unrequited devotion.

This fascinating novel—which the author began writing a year before her encounter with Jack Kerouac—is a young woman’s complex response to the liberating messages of the Beat Generation. In a subversive feminist move, Johnson gives her heroine all the freedom the male Beat writers reserved for men, to travel her own road.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The daring debut of the Beat Generation’s first woman novelist

It’s 1955. Seven days before her graduation from Barnard College, Susan Levitt asks herself, “What if you lived your entire life without urgency?” just before going out to   make things happen to her that will shatter the mask of conformity concealing her feelings of alienation. If Susan continues to be “good,” marriage and security await her. But her hunger is rising for the self-discovery that comes from existential freedom.   

After breaking up with the Columbia boy she knows she could marry, Susan seeks out those she considers “outlaws”: the brave and fragile Kay, who has moved into a rundown hotel, in order to “see more than fifty percent when I walk down the street”; the vulnerable adolescent rebel Anthony; and Peter, the restless hipster graduate student who has become the object of Kay’s unrequited devotion.

This fascinating novel—which the author began writing a year before her encounter with Jack Kerouac—is a young woman’s complex response to the liberating messages of the Beat Generation. In a subversive feminist move, Johnson gives her heroine all the freedom the male Beat writers reserved for men, to travel her own road.

More books from Open Road Media

Cover of the book Fair Is the Rose by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book Scarborough Fair by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book Deadly Visions by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book Sweet Hearts by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book American Journeys Volume One by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book Nevermore by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book No Life of Their Own by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book Lonely Vigil by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book The Ill-Made Mute by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book The 10th Victim by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book The Martin Fallon Novels by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book Hard Money by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book Cluny Brown by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book The Bayou Strangler by Joyce Johnson
Cover of the book Dive by Joyce Johnson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy