What Is The Purpose Of I Am The Cheese

I am the Cheese, written by Robert Cormier, is a book said to be for “young readers.” The author has written 13 book prior to I am the Cheese where he was considered an author for young readers. I liked and disliked his very flamboyant and descriptive writing style, the descriptions are too descriptive. I am the Cheese is the only book I have read by this author, so I can only base my assessment of his books from this book alone. While Adam, the main character, is a young man of 17, I wouldn't necessarily consider this book for young readers. The author's style is easy to read and this book was an average size book for my age group but the subject was quite depressing. I also felt a little lost while reading the book, trying to figure out what was going on. I know the author intended to keep the reader guessing throughout the book but this style of writing is very frustrating and confusing to me. At the end I wasn't convinced I understood or had figured out the meaning of the whole book.
This book could be considered a mystery since the main character Adam is trying to unlock his past while on a bicycle journey and in therapy for his amnesia.
The story begins with Adam starting a long journey on his old bicycle. His goal is to get to a town named Rutterburg, Vermont to see his dad. He meets many people and has many little yet sometimes significant experiences along the way. During the story of Adam's bike journey he has flashbacks of his life with his parents but also there are times when he is discussing his past with a therapist in some kind of hospital or asylum. The bike journey and the therapy sessions seem to take place at Adam's same time, which is confusing. The flashbacks that actually are from his past are when he remembers the times he is with his parents at their home, or when he is with his friend Amy. Amy is Adams only friend and towards the end of him knowing her it’s suggested that they may have become a couple, because they
kissed.

Adam stops many times during his bike journey to call Amy but he is never able to talk to her. At first there is no answer when he calls but towards the end of the book a man answers a few times and tells Adam that there is no one there named Amy and that he's had this phone number for 3 years. The last few chapters are when Adam starts to remember what event happened in his past that gave him amnesia and what ended him up in the place he is in now. There are a few twists at the end. Not only was Adam never on an actual journey, his therapist is working for the bad guys from his past. I had to re-read the last few chapters, found a movie on YouTube of this book and went online trying to figure out what the hell is going on. With all of that extra research I still had to just let the ending go and had to force myself to stop trying to figure any more out.

I would not recommend this book unless you like being confused and don’t like loose ends being clearly tied up. Yes this book does make you think and it is very, very, descriptive, like I said at the beginning, which gives you clear mental images of everything that happens in the book, but could also be described a lot easier and still have the same image. I just wish the ending tied up cleaner.