The writing in the first 100 pages drew me into this autobiographical narrative of a man and his son on a motorcycle trip (partly with a couple of friends, then later on their own) through America.

A character, who I assumed was from ancient Greece due to the name - Phaedrus - was often mentioned, and I knew I'd have to look into who that was eventually, but was not expecting the reveal of who this Phaedrus really is/was.

Trigger warnings for mental health issues, included antiquated techniques for treating mental health conditions.

The author's obsession with the idea of Quality (what is it really? and how can we tell? and who in the past has also had this question, possibly under different names?) became incredibly intense, to the point where I don't think I was really able to take in much of the philosophical aspects of the middle of the book, making the return to the road trip narratives a welcome reprieve.

I would also like to note how strange it felt to rate this book in terms of "Quality" given how much this book is about this topic.

The success of this book, after it wasn't expected to amount to much in terms of sales, is definitely something to note, and since I was reading a 25 year anniversary edition (which itself was from 1999), there was an update about the tragic death of the author's son a few years after publication.

TL;DR: a lot of the philosophy and academic rivalry went over my head, but I'm sure some of it has stuck in ways I haven't understood yet.