The Catcher in the Rye

Wow this book was a slow read given that it was only 198 pages. It took me 4 weeks, which, isn't a huge amount of time, but the first 80% of the book felt like an age that just wouldn't end.

I was originally going to rate this book 1 star but it changed toward the end (the last 20% as I'll explain).

Holden Caulfield, as read by myself a near 40 year old man, is a bit of a whingebag, if put subtly. He's self centred and believes the world owes him something - god knows what though. The 1950s language doesn't really pose much of a problem (as I read it), and I appreciate that lives were very different to that of 70 years later in ~2018. Not being a teenager myself, I'm not pissed off at everyone for existing so I had trouble connecting to a large part of the story that Holden shares with me during the book.

The book is also fairly heavy with 1950s sexism, and it isn't uncommon to come across lines like “the trouble with girls is...”. It's hard to read and I can imagine how it perpetuates the image of men being above women for the following decades. Either it's reflecting how men thought at the time, or it re-enforces how they were supposed to think.

Also, the trouble with Holden was that his (teenage) exaggeration made it hard to tell what was real and what was imagined and what was him simply trying to be older to his peers. Sometimes I was just confused as to what was real and what wasn't. But then he'd share his feelings about his family, sister and deceased brother Allie...

When Holden did talk about his family, it seems like you're able to see the real Holden under all the complexities of being a teenager. Then finally, around the 85% mark, Holden shares with his younger (adored) sister, that if he could be anything he would be:

“I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start going over the cliff–I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.”

“The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that wants to live humbly for one.”

ok you're traumatized, depressed, you probably have ptsd and whatever, but you're SO annoying.

I understand Holden Caulfied, I really do, I just don't like his character. He really pisses me off.
I can't stand the constant repetition of sentences. I get it's supposed to mimic Holden's train of thought, but it's so annoying to read.

I've written a better review, but got lost on save somehow.

The story about a teenage boy about to be spelled from the 4th time from school. It talks about his friends at school, his relationships with girls and his teachers.

It is the most boring/trivial thing I've ever read. I would rather read a 300 page description of a sandwich.

Read 1:22/6:43 22%

[b:The Catcher in the Rye 5107 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349928703s/5107.jpg 3036731] is about being a teenager. One who happens to have at least one (if not more) mental disorder. It's okay to dislike Holden or to not love this book, opinions are opinions after all. But I take issue with people who fail to realize that he writes from a mental hospital. He's messed up. And to think he's a whiny spoiled brat ... well, yeah, he's spoiled, but the reason he is the way he is is because he's got a mental disorder. Those who like this book either know what it's like firsthand to be depressed (or even different in general) or know someone who has felt the adverse effects of it.

2.75* If u were ever curious to know what its like in the mind of a mildly depressed, slightly annoying, very ADHD, 16 year old boy then read this book. If not, don't bother.

This was quite literally just a long winded internal monologue/diary entry. I could not tell you the point of this book (is there one?) Still once i wrapped my head around the fact that i was simply reading the internal thoughts of this sad lonely boy I enjoyed it enough.

I get that this is an important novel in that it was one of the first that really spoke to young adults, and in that sense was one of the first ever young adult novels (even though it was originally written for adults). It also makes sense that kids who are feeling like outsiders, who are riding the teenage manic/depressive waves, would find a kindred spirit in Holden.

As an adult reader I just couldn't shake the feeling that Holden needed to stop being so negative and down on everyone. The only time he liked a person or a thing was when it was in the past, and he could remember it any way he liked. While this is very true to teenage life - I certainly lived that way - it is super annoying to have to hear about it. Glad I read it so now I can get people's references to it, but I probably wouldn't read it again.