This is a famous book that seems to be in the reading list of American schools. I’ve heard of the book maybe since I was a student, too. I first saw it in a book store in China a few years ago. I just picked it up and read the first page causally. The book was a Chinese translation but the first paragraphs still caught my eyes, especially the quote “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had. “. In retrospective, this sentence doesn’t seem to be very related to the theme of the book. It’s kind of a trick to use something unique at the beginning to attract people into the book.

Nevertheless, I only read the first page that day. Only after a few years, when I wanted to do more readings (given the declined trend of the number of books I’ve read in recent years), I picked this up again since I thought this is something easy and fun to read. And I’m not wrong. It’s a small book with thrilling plot. And it’s kind of a glimpse of the after war America (even the book was written after the First World War but was only popular after the Second World War), and some the themes it explored still exists to this day.