I read this book in grade school. It was a difficult read, and I didn't understand allot of the themes. Now forty-some years later, I still remember the book and the sun baked landscape of the city and its inhabitants. Every now and then I flirt with the idea of taking a trip back to the city, meet the kid, and experience of the odyssey with mature eyes.

Initially I was intrigued, but that didn't last. Incredibly boring book lacking any redeeming qualities. Lots of sex occasionally made it interesting - but even that part was lifeless and dull. This book is not ABOUT anything, consisting only of ramblings and rantings, leading nowhere. I am having a hard time understanding why I read the whole thing - I wish someone had told me how bad it was before I started, and I would have saved $10 and the weeks of suffering it took to get through this. An embarrassment to the genre of science fiction.