The first time I read Zen, I was intrigued by the philosophical ideas. I hadn't studied much about philosophy, so any interesting take on the subject certain got my mind racing, trying to figure it all out with this new lens to view reality through.

The second time I read Zen, I knew more about philosophy, and I knew more about Robert Pirsig's life. The fact that he really did go on motorcycle trips with Chris, and he really did have a nervous breakdown, and he really did have electroshock therapy.

I now see it as the story of a man who fell in love with a philosophical idea that didn't have a conclusion, it was like a fractal, it just kept repeating down into smaller patterns of thought. This is part of what led him to a mental breakdown, where the only option he had to keep his family, and his sanity, was electroshock therapy.

The book is the story of him going on the motorcycle trip with Chris and his friends, the same trip he took before the therapy. He familiar sights and sounds have him remembering things he forgot he knew. Soon, his thoughts on this philosophy are back in his mind, and he's walking down that path that took him off the edge.

He's faced with the choice: go be with Phaedrus and chase the profound philosophical realization you were so close to achieving, or be with your son, stay with him, and let the rest slip away.

I read the book again after learning that Chris had been killed in a random stabbing in California. I think that I gave his character a lot more leeway after learning that. He wasn't the annoying kid being dragged along, interrupting this profound dissertation. He was a kid who was trying to find a way to be with his dad, or someone who looks like his dad but isn't exactly the same as he once was.