Don't tell anybody anything...

A biased review of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger


      I have found through extensive research (aka going on GoodReads.com) that readers of The Catcher in the Rye can be broken up into two categories: People who can identify with Holden Caulfield and people who can't. It appears that whatever you side you fall under weighs heavily on whether or not you enjoy the book.

     I at, 21, was 17 only four years ago. I still struggle to find the road to my destiny and give or take a few thoughts of Holden's, I felt like I was him. He is a guy who loves everyone when they are not around and hates them when they are in front of him. Holden has a distorted view of reality induced by movies that he loves to hate and assumes that everything is going to go the way he envisions it. Every kid knows that the world is filled with disappointments, but they don't remember this fact until they experience the disappointment up front.
    Holden Caulfield is a private school drop out disillusioned to believe he is destined to go somewhere in life above the assistance of proper education. He has 4 days before he is to report back home, so instead of wasting away at the school he runs away to experience a little vacation in the city. He goes to night clubs, rents hotels, goes in and out of taxi cabs. He even orders a prostitute at one point. Holden wants to be an adult doing adult things. Done being a kid, he wants to start his life.

   This just an example of the product of the Instant Gratification Generation (My Generation). All of us feel the way he does at one point. They don't see the point in wasting away in textbooks and listening to some nobody blab away about nothing we care about. "Things like that just kill me. I mean it really depresses you," (Catcher in the Rye).
        Movies, books, music, TV, all show us how cool it is to be an adult. You see all the stars playing, smoking, and hanging out in bars picking up beautiful women. These are the things that Holden wants to do. He is extremely intelligent and sort of knows what he wants to do but he doesn't posses the maturity level to go out and do it. Who can't relate to that? He is a lot like me.

      I think there is a lot more to life than being born, getting an education, getting a job, having a family, rinse and repeat. Holden has a dream, however bizarre, that he means to follow. I have my own dream, less bizarre , to become a published author. Perhaps this blog about the Catcher in the Rye isn't the best advertisement, but I want to effect people the way this book effected me.

 To appeal to the other side of the "loving this book" argument, I will address the part about Holden I did not like. He spends a lot of time talking about how he hates flits(gays), perverts, and the like. He goes on record to say he has had a run with them 20 times in his life. The interesting part is the fact that he has a bizarre fascination with children. When looking for his sister in the New York park, he runs into a little kid he doesn't know. Instead of asking the kid about his sister, he decides to attempt to hang out with them. I don't believe he is a pervert himself, but a lot of people do.

This book immediately emerged as my favorite book. Just sayin'

7/5 IT IS JUST THAT GOOD