Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I had a love - hate relationship with this book. The cross country motorcycle trip kept me slogging through but I would often grow disinterested or downright annoyed when the author began to wax philosophical. The reason for my annoyance was just how pretentious the main character was, he was so analytical always dissecting his friend's flaws and shortcomings to the point where I really wondered how he had any friends at all. He frequently makes his son cry or lies awake at night listening to his son crying and does absolutely nothing. He comes off as a complete jerk.

Oddly enough by the end of the novel, I found that I was more engaged in the philosophical treatise and had gained some empathy for the narrator.

Minor spoilers
I think as much as this book is about philosophy and a man's quest to find himself it's also a book about mental illness. Our society has come a long way in the past 40 years on the subject of mental illness so I wonder what this book would be like if it were written today. Indeed the narrator causes a lot of his problems but most of his mental state and eventual breakdown is an result of some kind of mental illness. I think it'd be interesting to see that story told in light of today's culture.