Catcher in the Rye

[Michael]

I've been waiting patiently for more than twenty years to finally read some review/article comment that actually disses this annoying novel instead of heaping endless praise upon it.

I hated it the first time I read it and I hated it even more the second time through. And I really hated it when various people insisted that if I didn't like the book it was because I didn't understand it properly and that I ought to re-read it again.

Piss off I say. Lame-ass book with a 'hero' that deserves to live a life of complete mediocrity and obscurity. Nice to see that the wheels are finally falling off this bandwagon.

Get a Life, Holden Caulfield

Even as Mr. Salinger, who is 90 and in ailing health, seeks to keep control of his most famous creation, there are signs that Holden may be losing his grip on the kids.

“The Catcher in the Rye,” published in 1951, is still a staple of the high school curriculum, beloved by many teachers who read and reread it in their own youth. The trouble is today’s teenagers. Teachers say young readers just don’t like Holden as much as they used to. What once seemed like courageous truth-telling now strikes many of them as “weird,” “whiny” and “immature.”

Source-NYTimesReview (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/weekinreview/21schuessler.html?_r=1)

Few things would please me more than to see Catcher in the Rye relegated to the scrap heap of 'books that don't age well at all'.

[partofme]

I liked the book at the time I read it. I was having to both work with the public and supervise people that constantly did things that made my life harder and I sympathized with a guy that was absolutely pissed off at everybody he encountered.

[drgoodtrips]

I've been waiting patiently for more than twenty years to finally read some review/article comment that actually disses this annoying novel instead of heaping endless praise upon it.

I hated it the first time I read it and I hated it even more the second time through. And I really hated it when various people insisted that if I didn't like the book it was because I didn't understand it properly and that I ought to re-read it again.

Piss off I say. Lame-ass book with a 'hero' that deserves to live a life of complete mediocrity and obscurity. Nice to see that the wheels are finally falling off this bandwagon.



Source-NYTimesReview (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/weekinreview/21schuessler.html?_r=1)

Few things would please me more than to see Catcher in the Rye relegated to the scrap heap of 'books that don't age well at all'.

I didn't mind the book, though I never found it to be Earth-shattering in any way. It was an interesting read, though I think the part that actually interested me was reading about how life was (presumably) in the 20's - mannerisms of people, traditions, societal customers. As a matter of fact, that's something I enjoy about pretty much any book I read that's either old or else written (with reasonable accuracy assumed) about a time period.

One thing that always perplexes me is the idea that "you don't like it because you don't get it." If it comes to fashion, I can accept that. When it comes to matters of academia, I'm of the (perhaps arrogant) opinion that there's very little that I "don't get". "Don't like" or "don't agree with" or "find silly" do not equal "don't get."

[The Drunk Guy]

"Don't like" or "don't agree with" or "find silly" do not equal "don't get."
But I don't think you quite follow. ;)


I liked the book. Still do, I suppose. I didn't have any "Holdens" in my community, so it was someone to identify with at that stage in life. That only thing that bothered me is the ending. Perhaps that's what help shape my "Fuck establishment" view of life.:shrug:

[Michael]

One thing that always perplexes me is the idea that "you don't like it because you don't get it." If it comes to fashion, I can accept that. When it comes to matters of academia, I'm of the (perhaps arrogant) opinion that there's very little that I "don't get". "Don't like" or "don't agree with" or "find silly" do not equal "don't get."

I see this argument used quite often. I consider it closely related to 'identity politics' crap (where it is asserted, for example, that no one but a woman can understand the issue of abortion, or no one but a black person can understand the scars of slavery, etc.).

In other words, some people like to assert that you disagree with them because you don't understand the issue, and then argue that you are fundamentally incapable of understanding in the first place. That reasoning seems to makes the whole idea of communication moot and that's just silly.

[Lasher]

But I don't think you quite follow. ;)


I liked the book. Still do, I suppose. I didn't have any "Holdens" in my community, so it was someone to identify with at that stage in life. That only thing that bothered me is the ending. Perhaps that's what help shape my "Fuck establishment" view of life.:shrug:
Gosh, Drunk Guy, you're really an anti-establishment rebel, aren't you?

[Zarquon]

While I found the book to be well-written and occasionally funny, I didn't identify with the protagonist, and found him to be rather immature(to you use your source's word) or phony(to use the protagonist's world).

[Baron Von Esslingen]

I haven't read the book in 40 years. The teacher that made me read it compared the title character to me when it came time for class discussions. I blurted out "fuck that" and was kicked out of class for a week.

ha

[Michael]

While I found the book to be well-written and occasionally funny, I didn't identify with the protagonist, and found him to be rather immature(to you use your source's word) or phony(to use the protagonist's world).
Yes, that would be my view of Holden. Narcissistic, immature and phony.

I suppose that kind of character might have seemed kind of 'edgy' back in the 1950's, but now as a banner for the baby-boomer generation, it is just way too common and annoying. :D

[Lasher]

I haven't read the book in 40 years. The teacher that made me read it compared the title character to me when it came time for class discussions. I blurted out "fuck that" and was kicked out of class for a week.

ha
Wow! What a man!!!

[Lasher]

Yes, that would be my view of Holden. Narcissistic, immature and phony.

I suppose that kind of character might have seemed kind of 'edgy' back in the 1950's, but now as a banner for the baby-boomer generation, it is just way too common and annoying. :D
You hit the nail right on the head, Mike!!!!