What did you think of the Catcher in the Rye?

Submitted by Hmmmm_Meh t3_11ca3v9 in books

I just finished reading it. The part where he is in the mental hospital/rehab didn't click in my head until I saw it online. The style is different than most books I have read. Still processing my thoughts. Would love to know what you guys think.

I felt that he came off as a hypocrite and and asshole at first. Like thinking he is superior and many times acting tough or thinking he is way better when he is not. But some things he say do make sense in a way.

But as the story goes on and on, all I see is a little kid, lonely and troubled and just scared of the big world he is in. He has some issues and I am not sure what.

I felt so great knowing he had a great sister. Phoebe is too good for the world and honestly I love her so much. I really think that most people who suffer will find great comfort if there is someone like her in their lives.

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Ineffable7980x t1_ja2iztu wrote

It's a classic for a reason. It uses an unreliable narrator to very effectively portray an emotionally disturbed boy deeply affected by loss.

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StrawberryFields_ t1_ja2s2ty wrote

Holden Caulfield is the most iconic character in literature. He captures a universal feeling of angst and frustration — that is not limited to adolescence. I think about him a lot. He is not a forgettable cardboard cookiecutter character like so many others.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja87gq3 wrote

Well, it’s not a competition. There are many unforgettable characters in fiction. I’ll never forget Miss Havisham, for example.

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sinofonin t1_ja3pbr9 wrote

There are two major things going on with the character. First he is growing up and transitioning to being an adult so there are some of the typical aspects of that age. The second part which is sometimes overlooked is his trauma and how it is also impacting his transition to adulthood.

AFAIK, Salinger started creating the character before the war but then while recovering from his own PTSD during the war he wrote more of it. So the character is a mix of this rebellious youth character and a character living through loss and trauma. I think there is a lot of Salinger in the character especially a lot of his fears about himself and his own capacity to deal with his trauma.

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ERSTF t1_ja4zi0g wrote

How did you read the teacher? Predator or just a concerned adult?

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Exploding_Antelope t1_ja5f7xf wrote

Oh hundo percent predatory. Everything about Holden makes a lot more sense if he’s been sexually abused.

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mauben t1_ja5guii wrote

The fact his form of reassurance was just telling Holden he'd be going back to his own room didn't scream innocence to me either.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja876l5 wrote

Professor Thurber? Just a spot-on description of an ancient college professor with no more fucks to give.

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja3q7sr wrote

thank you for this comment. I am somebody who used to breeze through books maybe even skipping words and sentences just to get to the end. The result was I finished the book but never really understood it nor would remember anything after sometime.

Recently I am trying more to feel and understand them. What I think now after reading your comment is that it may be good to have a background read on the author. This is two authors I have read in a row whose works become more profound when you understand that most of the feelings of the character are those of the author themselves. That it is based on their own experiencr or related thoughts and the story gets so much more meaning.

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Exploding_Antelope t1_ja5f5ey wrote

Yeah I think Catcher, as well as Salinger’s other stories, benefits greatly from being slowly, because the richness of the books comes from unraveling its unreliable narrator. The truths he’s almost accidentally telling come out between the lines. It helps that the book is fairly short, because that eases the pressure to rush through it. I like short books for that reason, you innately savour them.

Speaking of other stories, if you liked the interplay of motivations and character and text in Catcher, I definitely recommend Franny and Zooey. It’s similar in style but more centred around the contradictions of young adult as opposed to adolescent disillusionment.

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CalmCalmBelong t1_ja5wp0t wrote

Aye, that second part is often overlooked, especially generationally. When I was in highschool (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth), no one talked about trauma, or depression, or mental health. Literally no one. Today, every parent I know is friends with someone whose child "took a year off and went to school in Utah" and we all know what they're saying.

And even those parents ... so few recall Holden being in a residential program, journalling as part of his treatment, his depression from untreated trauma over his beloved brother's death, his sexual assault experience... Egads we were taught badly.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja871o2 wrote

Holden’s brother who killed himself was maybe his personification of suicidal depression. The short story A Perfect Day for Bananafish, in the collection Nine Stories, is epic.

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SilverBabyComeToMe t1_ja2gzbm wrote

I loved this book. I love Salinger. I named my son after this book. I always loved the name.

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[deleted] t1_ja2m2q3 wrote

[deleted]

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SilverBabyComeToMe t1_ja2m3uj wrote

Well, not quite...

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja2m7dq wrote

wait you named him catcher?

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SilverBabyComeToMe t1_ja2mcpf wrote

Really?

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja2mmg6 wrote

I dont understand what you mean here. Sorry if I said something wrong or anything. I was just curious.

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[deleted] t1_ja2nfnq wrote

[deleted]

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[deleted] t1_ja2ny4h wrote

[deleted]

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SilverBabyComeToMe t1_ja2o0w3 wrote

I was trying to be a little obtuse because I really didn't want to say his name publicly

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja2on0f wrote

I understand. not many people would have seen it. You can delete that final comment if you want, I'll delete mine too. Have a great day.

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PrismaticWonder t1_ja4hedm wrote

The first sentence of the novel makes it clear that he is basically talking to a therapist.

From this fact, we learn that there are 2 Holdens in the book: 1 who is younger and is the person who is did the actions (leaving school, going to NYC, etc.), and 1 who is a year older who is narrating the novel to the therapist, which is a narration of the events in his life from a year prior. And thus he is an unreliable narrator.

So it’s fascinating that we are watching the events of Holden from the perspective and diction of an older, post-consciousness-shift Holden, which we don’t see/hear happen until toward the end of the novel.

I didn’t catch that so much when I read the novel for high school, but when I picked it up again after college, it clicked for me and I loved the writing style/choices that Salinger managed to pull off.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja88gjc wrote

I read this book as a teenager purely because i wanted to after reading the first page. I have since reread parts of it periodically numerous times over the course of 40 years. It still kills me every time.

All this talk about an unreliable narrator or whatever…. Who cares? We’re not in high school English class here.

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ReturnOfSeq t1_ja3rlr7 wrote

Great book, a friend swears by rereading it every other year, says he always gets a different resonance from it based on where he is in his life. Not my favorite but it’s definitely one of the better classics

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mauben t1_ja4tzp0 wrote

Just finished reading it and loved it, was much funnier than I expected it to be and I really sympathised with the Holden character, again not what I expected with how people had spoke about the book and about him being a massive moaner. Felt genuinely gutted when I'd finished it. Also echo OP's sentiments about Phoebe, such a great character.

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Exploding_Antelope t1_ja5fpu3 wrote

Oh it’s a hoot. Once you accept that Holden is a grump and you don’t have to be on his side, he’s very funny, and some of the things he’s grumpy about are true enough to be like, yeah man, I get it.

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everything_is_holy t1_ja6bgjz wrote

His conversation with the cabbie is hilarious.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja86j2q wrote

And the one with Professor Thurber, and all the scenes with Stradlater and Sally…

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Agreeable_Sun3754 t1_ja5p5e7 wrote

I picked up on the hint that Holden was gay cause it seemed familiar to me... The guy who punch me to prove he wasn't gay also noticed Holden was gay. Hummmm... Me think she doth protest too much.

My English teacher later discussed the book with me and how Holden sexuality is often brought up at the college level.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja87zd9 wrote

He hired a prostitute and tried to get frisky with Sally. Not gay.

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Agreeable_Sun3754 t1_ja8cif8 wrote

What book did you read? He hired a prostitute because he needed someone to talk to. he didn't even try to get frisky didn't even give a hint that he was interested in getting frisky. That screams gay.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja8mq3b wrote

This whole discussion made me find the book and get ready to reread my favorite passages again. The bookmark just happened to be at the part where he lined up the prostitute:

“Okay, I said. It was against my principles and all, but I was feeling so depressed I didn’t even think. That’s the whole trouble. When you’re feeling very depressed, you can’t even think.

“Hey, is she good looking?” I asked him. “I don’t want any old bag.”

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Agreeable_Sun3754 t1_ja8t12x wrote

Yep, this is pretty familiar thinking when figuring out if you're gay or not.

edit: No idea why that guy blocked me. Must be terrified about having consider multiple possibilities about a fairly inconclusive topic.

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Slaughter_Me_Elmo t1_ja2g19n wrote

Another high schooler trying to get others to do their argumentative essays for them

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja2lq26 wrote

haha, pretty clever. Take my upvote.

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masterofunfucking t1_ja47d86 wrote

I still think it’s the worst Salinger novel but a “worst Salinger novel” is still like a 10 for your average writer. Franny & Zooey + Raise High the Roofbeams and Seymour are godlike. I sympathize with Holden more and more as I get older though

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Mariposa510 t1_ja6uzw5 wrote

Holy shit, he was the only other teenager who ever understood me.

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St_Vincent-Adultman t1_ja3v6j0 wrote

J.D. Salinger also fought in World War 2 (I believe he was at D-Day and freed Dachau). I think a lot of his pessimism stems from the that. Once he found spirituality his outlook changed a bit, that’s why the Glass Family stories are different despite the fact they deal with similar characters/themes.

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Exploding_Antelope t1_ja5fkeb wrote

True true and I didn’t know that about his change. But it makes sense, Franny and Zooey builds out of disillusionment to a thesis statement of faith, where Catcher does the same thing but ends with growth as the thesis.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja86peb wrote

He was a freak as a person, but his work is amazing IMHO.

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insidetheborderline t1_ja670fc wrote

It's one of my favorite books of all time. I wrote a good essay in high school about how Holden is afflicted by some form of mental illness.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja86c03 wrote

The representation of depression and teen angst was revelatory.

And every scene involving Stradlater was a masterpiece.

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kingofpuddingbrains t1_ja6bydm wrote

It's a rare classic the at absolutely lives up to the hype. A moving page turner that turns a mirror to the reader, forcing them to face their own internal struggles and contradictions.

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orionstarboy t1_ja5m5oa wrote

I actually really enjoyed it. Holden is definitely just a young kid who doesn’t understand the world, is quite troubled, and deals with it by acting superior to the world. He’s not a reliable narrator and he’s not really even a good person but that’s what I enjoyed about it. I liked reading what he got up to and it did a good job showing a young man in serious need of direction in life and some counseling

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Mariposa510 t1_ja6uv76 wrote

My favorite book, mostly because after reading every book in the school library, I lost interest in reading for the most part in my tween years. Then one day I stumbled upon a copy in my brother’s room and inhaled it in one day. Fast forward 40 years and I’m a librarian.

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja7t5ze wrote

that is really cool. Being a librarian, can you give some book suggestions?

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Mariposa510 t1_ja7ywcu wrote

What kinds of books do you like? My taste and yours may be very different.

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja7znjg wrote

I dont know. I guess I dont have a particular genre that I like, or atleast I haven't found one yet. I'm also back reading after some time. In school I loved percy jackson, inheritance series by christopher paolini, treasure island and all. Now recently I read 1984, metamorphosis, catcher in the rye, animal farm, thousand splendid suns and some others. There is a lot for me out there to explore.

After writing this much I think I'm more into memoirs or harsh but closer to life stories lately.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja82gy3 wrote

Oh cool! I love a good memoir. Some I’ve enjoyed: Dry by Augusten Burroughs, Paula by Isabel Allende, anything by David Sedaris or Anne Lamott, Marbles by Ellen Forney, Fun Home by Allison Bechdel, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers; anything by Bill Bryson or Jon Krakauer; Wild by Cheryl Strayed; anything by JoannDidion, but especially The Year of Magical Thinking

Are you still up for young adult novels? Try anything by John Green, the Divergent and Hunger Games series, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian…

If you’re up for trying mysteries, try Louise Penny or of course Agatha Christie.

For adult fiction, I like Kate Atkinson, Jennifer Egan, the book Revolutionary Road; Tom Perrotta, Frederick or Donald Barthelme; David Foster Wallace; Watership Down, Gameof Thrones, All the Light We Cannot See, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera; anything by Ocean Vuong or James Baldwin or George Orwell. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell.

FYI many libraries can provide a list of reading suggestions based on your preferences.

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja82v2r wrote

wow. I'll definitely check atleast some of these out. Also I heard when breath becomes air is a super book. Incase you are looking for something.

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Mariposa510 t1_ja8uefa wrote

Oh, definitely a great one. There’s also one I haven’t read yet called something like A Stroke of Genius that’s written by a brain scientist. Oh yeah, read Farm City too. Tuesdays with Morrie is heartwarming, although a bit cheesy.

EDIT: The Basketball Diaries is a wild ride. It was written by a teenage heroin addict who later was in a band. Their big hit was People Who Died. Give it a listen! ,

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_jaaorh8 wrote

thank you for these recommendations. I'll write back here after I read one of them.

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Mariposa510 t1_jabtad1 wrote

Great! I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts. Many more recommendations where those came from.

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viola-canina t1_ja74rxg wrote

Tried to read at least 3 times. Failed every single time

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Fine_Paramedic_1142 t1_ja7e8jc wrote

I enjoyed it mainly because I saw a lot of myself in Holden and I read it for the first time around 18-19 which is how old he is in the book. I haven’t read any of Salinger’s others but have always wanted to. It’s not the best book I’ve ever read but it just feels like something of the same character attributes that everyone should read to help form their opinion/perspective on the general areas of life, etc. I would put it at 9 or 10 on my top 10 list.

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ButtercupsPitcher t1_ja510jk wrote

Most people that claim to have read it are phoneys.

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ceeece t1_ja5cra1 wrote

I read it in high school many years ago and I hated it.

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Liftkettlebells1 t1_ja4y11s wrote

This was one I hated. I finished it bc I kept waiting for something to happen. 0/5 stars.

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WilliamMcCarty t1_ja2id42 wrote

>What did you think of the Catcher in the Rye

I'd prefer not to think of it.

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja2lyix wrote

any particular reason ?

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WilliamMcCarty t1_ja2o0e4 wrote

It's boring, pretentious, unnecessarily teen-angsty and Holden Caulfield is the single most insufferable character I've ever encountered. It's just not a good book. I have nothing positive to say about it.

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highpriestess024 t1_ja4zvus wrote

What a phoney

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WilliamMcCarty t1_ja51ix6 wrote

Beg pardon? I can't have my own opinions and taste in art? That makes me a phoney?

Edit: ok, I got it, we're good.

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja2ofgj wrote

I dont necessarily agree with your comment but I respect your opinion.

Also I would love to get a book suggestion from you.

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_The_Van_ t1_ja2m9o5 wrote

I'd call it one of the most mediocre books I've ever read. I'm surprised at how decisive this book has been when really it should have been forgotten like so many other books throughout the years.

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Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja2mfxe wrote

each to their own I guess. Personally I found it a good read. Care to suggest some books so I can explore something different?

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