I read Zen in my twenties and thought it was OK, but couldn't really relate. Then I tried to read it again in my forties and stopped at the Boomer era mental an

I read Zen in my twenties and thought it was OK, but couldn't really relate. Then I tried to read it again in my forties and stopped at the Boomer era mental and physical cruelty and neglect of his son in the novel. It negates anything else he may have said in the book. I truly fear for the children of millions of men who use the novel as some sort of guide to life and being a parent. Putting an 11yo on the back of a motorcycle for 8 hours or more a day, ignoring him as he cries himself to sleep, acting as if he's an abnormal child when he doesn't want to sit around quietly while the adults smoke cigarettes and drink coffee, or get drunk or high. He actually suggests that Chris is mentally ill because he was, of course, acting like a child of an alcoholic, abusive schizophrenic father being forced to endure hours of physical discomfort and neglect. Truly nauseating.