In high school Abbey kept a journal and often used the moniker Jonathan Troy to refer to himself. While no one has claimed that the book is in any way an autobiographical account, it was not well received by people who had known Abbey during his senior year of high school. The contempt Jonathan shows for the residents of his home town was a hard blow to people Abbey knew in high school, a fact that may have had something to do with Abbey's later regret at having published this book.