Indeed, a book like Zen...only requires a casual review. It is very hard to explain or review without giving too much detail, but I’ll give it a try.
I had difficulty reading this book initially and yes I can admit that I had to quit reading in the middle but that was not because I lost interest. I started reading this book without too much expectation and soon realized that the book is almost like an encyclopedia that has answers or clues to so many questions. For example, questions about self identity, self-image and issues related to human mind and social myth. So, instead of reading the whole book at once, I decided to read couple chapters at a time.
This gave me enough time to read and understand the reasoning. [This might be a useful hint for anyone who likes to read books with confirmed story or theme; this book needs to be understood, not just being read]
I especially like this book because Pirsig has created the characters and events so close to reality. Not everyone goes through what the antagonist of this book has but most of his life experiences are comparable to a common everyday man. In a true sense this is a thought provoking and practical book that enables its readers to think in a broad sense.
By means of this book and the characters, Pirsig has tried to create a bigger picture of the world we are living in today. The world around us is not homogenous any more; there are all sorts of people, who have different religion, caste, language, social beliefs, political and financial agendas. Pirsig has shown this by emphasizing on two characters, one who is the “science guy” and the other “non-science guy”. Just read the following excerpt, it is a monologue:
We were both looking at the same thing, seeing the same thing, talking about the same thing, thinking about the same thing, except he was looking, seeing, talking and thinking from a completely different dimension.
This is just an example of one of the themes in this book. I am sure you’ll find another issue with which you can relate to yourself. Enjoy the read!!!
-Thank you all for reading this review and please feel free to critique.