OMG!
I recall reading this book soon after it was published in 1968; through the intervening years I have retained my copy of it, albeit buried in a box in the storage room. I placed this on my reading list again when I recognised the author obit in the New York Times last year. Instead of the keen insights into life I had so stubbornly remembered, I found a trite and banal tale of a clueless young man beset by bad luck and even worse decisions. The romantic plot described in the narrative paled when compared to my real life romance. The phoniness of the dialog and the flaws in the characterizations were never quite as evident as when the one dimensional characters represented themselves as anarchists and nihilists. I think this book can only be enjoyed by a 18 year old in the late 1960's. It is dated, seems to celebrate a simplistic rebellion with no redeeming purpose and ultimately decribes one of life's losers. What was fresh and full of meaning for a young man in the '60's, fails to connect, even with the same man at nearly 60. The rating is a compromise between the enjoyment I felt reading the book a lifetime ago and the disappointment I feel when wading through the poorly written prose today