Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja3q7sr wrote
Reply to comment by sinofonin in What did you think of the Catcher in the Rye? by Hmmmm_Meh
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.
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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