Like most of Norma Klein's books for young adults, Older Men is controversial. Klein declared that she was interested in breaking taboos in her works, and she certainly does in Older Men. Its treatment of psychiatrists, psychiatric hospitals, and shock treatment is harsh.

It also presents views of extremely dysfunctional families and at least one very unpleasant person, Dr. Nate Dintenfass. Tim says about Nate, "Putting faith in him is like trusting in Adolf Hitler." Nate's tyranny is further emphasized when June, after escaping from the mental hospital, says that she feels like someone released from a concentration camp. His unpleasantness is further underscored by his strange relationships with girls. Although Elise assures the reader that her relationship with her father is not incestuous and although June does admit that Nate does not go to bed with Elise, June does say that that is all they...