Unique among Jack Kerouac's novels, Visions of Gerard focuses on the scenes and sensations of childhood - -the wisdom, anguish, intensity, innocence, evil, insight, suffering, delight, and shock -- as they were revealed in the short tragic-happy life of his saintly brother, Gerard.
Set in Kerouac's hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts, it is an unsettling, beautiful, and sad exploration of the meaning and precariousness of existence.