Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

an inquiry into values

418 pages

English language

Published April 12, 2005 by HarperPerennial Modern Classics.

ISBN:
978-0-06-167373-3
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3 stars (1 review)

Pirsig's narrative of a father and son on a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions. -- From publisher description.

31 editions

Review of 'Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

This book started slow and frustrating but redeemed itself by the end. I’m not a philosophy expert by any stretch of the imagination but I found Part 3 engaging and thought provoking.

Part 1 felt, to me, marred by a sort of narcissism that was grating. Both the narrator and the author felt a bit like a “well actually” reply guy except instead of one exhausting tweet, he wrote a whole book. 

At one point the narrator describes a time when he felt seen and accepted as his true self, and it was when he stood at the head of a classroom and everyone hung on his every word. This is revealing.

But like I said, although this narcissism never went away, and the narrator remains, to me, deeply unlikable, the philosophy of the later parts drowns it out and it becomes worth reading.  

Subjects

  • Pirsig, Robert M.
  • Fathers and sons -- United States.
  • Self.