This book meant so much to me when I was a teenager and eventually led me to On the Road a and similar books about alienation and authenticity. If you liked the book, I highly recommend the documentary Salinger. It offers a fascinating glimpse into the author.

I like it a great deal. I think it hits very differently at different times of one's life, I don't find Holden smart or relatable any more but I find it a fine depiction of loss of innocence and a messed up kid adrift. Still like that it isn't really about big external drama though. Was one of the books that taught me that that wasn't needed for literary satisfaction, that character and place and time for themselves could be the vital things.

Catcher in the Rye, was honestly one of those books that as a High Schooler, I just hated. Holden was to me, the biggest whiner. I was at the time dealing with my own shit and because of the precarious nature of my situation, venting, complaining or otherwise bemoaning my situation would've done much more bad than good. As I've gotten older my sympathy for Holden has honestly shifted, catcher in the rye became something I appreciated more.

people love to criticise holden caulfield, but not only do i love that book, i feel very similarly about the world. like many of the kids who went to seek salinger out thinking he had some sort of secret understanding of pain and sadness, i found it enormously comforting.

people who complain about holden being a whiny guy and nothing more is my red flag.

idk if people actually have read that book or just make assumptions about it. Because i literally can't believe any emphatic person could read the whole book, and only say "haha holden complains a lot, amiright"

This is my favorite book. I get that it's not everyone's thing, but as someone who likes character-focused stories more than plot-driven ones, this book is damn near perfect. Holden is such a complex and real character. I think people who don't like the book because Holden is a spoiled brat are only reading at the surface level and not really paying attention to how he interacts with the world around him. Yes, he's rich (or rather his parents are) but that doesn't mean he has no problems. He's clearly going through serious mental health struggles. His brother's death is clearly affecting him and he feels alienated and can't seem to make real connections with anyone aside from his little sister. He needs help from the adults in his life. His parents don't interact with him once in the entire book. Every time he flunks out of one boarding school, they just ship him off to the next. And the only adult he feels like he can trust turns out to be a creep. He's also worried about growing up. Who isn't at that age? For that matter, who isn't kind of a selfish dick when they're 16? Holden is an honest portrayal of a teenager who's gone through some shit and doesn't have a support system to help him out. Keep in mind too that this was written back when it was taboo to talk about your emotions, especially if you were a man. He has no outlet other than self-loating and self-medicating. He's definitely flawed, but I wouldn't call him a bad person. For all his nasty thoughts about "phonies" he's actually very empathetic for the most part and even genrous. He even worries about his teacher's feelings as he's getting expelled.

One of the things I like most about Catcher is how I can read it again and again and get something new out of it every time. When I was in high school, I liked it because I had a similar mindset to Holden. Not as extreme, but I was also worried about adulthood and about growing up and turning into something I hated. In my 20s, I thought Holden was just an annoying spoiled brat who didn't appreciate all the opportunities he was given and I disliked the book for a long time. But for some reason I decided to pick it up again around 30 and I'm glad I did because I fell in love with it all over again. For different reasons this time. Now I can see Holden as the broken kid he is. He's lost and has nobody to guide him. It sounds corny, but I just want to reach through the pages and give him a hug. This book is a masterpiece.

For more Salinger, 9 Stories is great and personally I loved Franny and Zooey

Thought it was great, absolutely hate most discussions of it though. Because it just boils down to ''DAE holden spoiled, whiny annoying??'' which I honestly can get if your only reading of it was a 16 y.o. high schooler, but for some incomprehensible reason that are adults that reach the same conclusion.

You don't have to like him nor the book, I think Salinger was very aware that Holden would not come off as a likable character (shocker that good writers knows a good novel doesn't need a likable character) and if his writing doesn't appeal to you it's fair and just a matter of taste at that point. However, does Salinger need to beat you over the head with the reasons Holden acts the way he does?

I just cannot imagine reading hearing about someone was traumatized as he is and in the midst of a breakdown and identity crisis, and somehow go ''whiny brat''. I know you're a teenager, you were sexually abused, you lost your younger brother, you witnessed a classmate kill himself, you had hints of suicidal thoughts, you were betrayed and almost molested by one of the few people you thought you could trust -- all as a teenager by the way -- but man I don't like your average teenager attitude so you're just a whiny spoiled brat I guess..

Easiest to spot red flag with someone as a reader is just mentioning this book or Holden and see what they say.

I loved it personally, read it earlier this year. As a depressed misanthropic 17 year old, it did resonate a lot with me I think. I enjoyed it

It's a classic for a reason. I liked it too when I read it.

(But just in case this is going where a few others who were really into this book went...please don't shoot anybody. Even if they're famous).

I don’t want to take away from OP’s joy but I used to teach this to high schoolers and found I liked Holden as a character less and less the more times I read it.

Did a thesis on Salinger’s works, and was taught by the leading Salinger expert, here are some thoughts:

1). Catcher is actually the last book of Salinger’s you should read. The story is “written” by a man named Buddy Glass, second eldest.

2). When you explore Salinger’s other works (Nine Stories, Raise high the roof beams, Franny and Zooey, and Seymour: an introduction) you get a better sense of the character of Holden.

3). I argue that Holden is just an extension of the author (Buddy). Both have brothers who died. It’s the exploration of Buddy’s feelings towards his brother, Seymour, committing suicide.

4). I also argue that this brings the whole exploration full circle. It’s a book of mourning, not teenage angst as most people see it.

I found it exceedingly boring.

Completely disliked it.

Good luck with this opinion around these parts.

It's a book you either love or you hate. When I read it in high school, half the class loved it and the other half absolutely loathed it. And anyone I've spoken to about it has said the same.

I feel like it’s a perfect jewel of a book. Holden’s motivations and actions feel honest and real, and instantly relatable.

You don’t empathise with him because you aren’t a teenager any more?? Grow up, but better this time!

A great book! No doubt a foundational post-modern work. Often grossly misunderstood.

Ever see "Rebel in the Rye"? A biography about JD. I can't tell you how historically accurate it was, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie which is strange because I have no particularly click great liking of the book. The story is about him and not so much the book.

I didn't know it was highly criticized. JD Salinger is my birthday mate and I love this book, read it twice in high school because we kept moving and different schools read it in different years.

I feel like this sub needs a couple of stickies for a few books and authors that seem to come up every week or so.

Catcher in the Rye

Count of Monte Cristo

Haruki Murakami

Stephen King

I was the captain of the Goddamned fencing team

A lot of people accuse Holden of being a misanthrope and completely unlikable.

A lot of people accuse Holden of being a misanthrope and completely unlikeable.of them. He's a tragic character and, as the story unravels, you gradually get a better understanding of why he's as jaded as he is.

I personally didn’t enjoy it on the first read, but I also think it has to do with reading it in a place where I wasn’t in the teenager mindset that everything in this world is corrupt. It probably would’ve resonated with me at 13-17, but I didn’t feel a connection to Holden’s mindset. I did think it was admirable how even though he experienced a lot of death in his life and went through horrible abuse, his only goal was to save children from the same trauma and be the catcher in the rye.

This is my favorite book and I read it every December.

I think the criticism of Holden as a whiny, mundane character is invalid. Anyone who reads the book should understand why he is portrayed the way he is.

That being said, it’s…not really an exciting story. I enjoyed other novels of similar literary importance like Huck Finn and 1984 because of how the authors were able to create a story with stakes in them and make them exciting. I never had that same feeling with Catcher in the Rye. But that’s just my two cents!

It’s my favorite book. It meant a lot to me as a teenager, but it meant a lot to me in a new way rereading it as an adult. I think when people don’t like it, it’s because they can’t relate to Holden’s internal conflicts so he just seems like a whiner to them. But I think even if a lot of people don’t realize it, he’s very realistic.

The way it’s usually taught in high school is deeply flawed: “Holden is a whiner, and he’s an unreliable misanthrope, just like a lot of you, my students, who I now better understand.”

How I came to it as an adult: Holden is clinically depressed, and is actually journaling from the residential house where he’s been institutionalized. I know several families whose kids “spent a semester at school in Utah” and yeah … that’s this. And the reason for his depression is in there, still so painful he can only barely discuss it: it’s grief for the death of his beloved baby brother. Oh, and he was probably molested, that’s in there too.

Back when “how to teach” this book was established, American classrooms simply didn’t discuss depression nor sexual-abuse trauma and its manifestations as fluently as we do now. This book is a triumph in how it communicates that, though it largely fell on deaf ears for a generation.

Gotta be my favorite book. I have a copy that fits in my pocket, and whenever I go somewhere where I have to wait, it's my go to. I don't understand why it gets so much hate though

I know I’m being small-minded when I say it but any time I hear someone criticize The Catcher in the Rye I assume they only read books with wizards in them.

I hated that book. Never understood the significance of it. The main character was whiny to me and nothing he said or thought was profound to me. Might be my least favorite book.

Not my favorite but I will agree that Holden is a very interesting character. I don't find him relatable but I know people who act a lot like him. The book also touches several rarely written about subjects which is refreshing. To me it is targeting a teenage audience and speaking to what the world sometimes looks like through their eyes. This is why I think it is such a hit or miss book. If you empathize with Holden's world view you love it. If you don't then Holden is almost intolerably annoying.

I've read several of his books and first read Catcher at age 13 for a book report. I had to get a parental permission slip signed to read it. At that age, I really liked the book, and this post makes me think maybe I should go back and re-read it.

I loved that book, I loved the subtle ways he showed Holden's "masculinity mask" slip and the need to look tough in front of everyone. And he's so human! He's just a regular kid going through stuff

I read the book and thought that listening to Holden was like listening to my step-son talking to his doctors

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It's probably a banal statement, but all classics, even the most criticized and controversial ones, are classics for a reason. No book (or movie, artwork, etc.) can be loved by everyone. Just because someone (or even you!) hate a work it doesn't mean that it's not an important part of cultural history.

That being said, I read Catcher in the Rye when I was 21 years old or so, and I loved it! It does capture the soul and voice of a pretentious teenager who thinks he's much more mature than he really i. The language and narrative style is perfectly balancing between parodic and earnest.

I think it’s one of those books that people like more when it’s not forced on them. If the book was assigned to you in high school the message may have been lost on you as you weren’t at that point in your life yet, or you were and like Holden you were running away from confronting it. Without that core bit of information Holden comes across as a pretty non-sympathetic protagonist; which is why I think a lot of people hated him. For the entirety of the story Holden is reaching out to characters just to listen to him and if you aren’t in the mood to listen to him you’re going to get fed up with the book.

FUCKING PHONIES!!!!

If you enjoyed Catcher, I really recommend Stop Time by Frank Conroy. It's more autobiographical than Catcher, but very similar in feel.

I see your point BUT, I do get why people criticize it so much: It feels pointless, the book don't seem planed and it just feels like J.D started writting whatever came to his mind, it don't seem to have a beginning a middle nor an end. If that was the autor's goal that's fine, but it just make the book a boring, messed and confusing reading for many people.

If you really like my thoughts on it, here you go (spoilers):

I recently tried reading it for the first time as a 41M. And I could not finish it. I read about a third of it and it just seemed that >!Holden Caulfield was a spoiled rich kid who couldn’t stop complaining about his life. Yes, it sucks about his brother dying but it’s like he can’t appreciate his privileged upbringing.!<

Perhaps if I read more of it, I would’ve enjoyed it but I found it boring.

Bring on the downvotes!I was asked for my thoughts on it and these are them!

I love the book. I read it for the first time in college (thirty years ago), and have always had the same copy I bought at the university store with me in my library. I also have a digital copy.

The idea of a high school kid just living on his own for a few days in Manhattan is one thing I like about it. And Manhattan in that time period was much different than the various time periods I’ve visited the city (mid-80’s, mid-90’s, 2005, 2009, 2019). His internal dialogue, and conflict, is another. And his interactions with Ackley, the girls at the dance hall, the former teacher, etc., are another.

I hate that it has been maligned, both by people who think they’re too “cool” to appreciate it (i.e. “phony people”) and the two psychos it has been identified with (Mark David Chapman and John Hinckley).

Personally, I don't think Holden was intended to be likeable. I also don't think that detracts from the novel intrinsically. Does it make it painful to read at times because it's difficult putting up with such an insufferable prick? Yes. I always got the vibe that that was the intended effect though.

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It made me wanna kill John Lennon.

i’ve always loved this book. back in middle school i read it on my own will because i had heard of it and it sounded amazing. still one of my absolute favorites to this day.

I have avoided this book for a long time. I really don’t know why exactly. I have a rule that I won’t start a new book until I have finished with the current one. I still haven’t finished Level 7 because it’s written in like a diary form. I need to stop procrastinating and just finish it.

I first read this book as an adult. It didn't seem to resonate with as much as I expected due to it's perceived legendary status. Perhaps one needs to read it as an adolescent for it really to pop.

His short stories are great too. A Perfect Day For Bananafish. Enjoy! Now I need to read Catcher (as an adult).

How about A Separate Peace?

I still have my copy from 7th grade I never returned to the library. I still read it every couple years. It's kinda cliche I guess, but I related alot to Holden, being a depressed kid and everything.

Holden really sorta captures that feeling of being unable to really relate to anyone, especially adults. The one adult towards the end of the book that he does in some way with, ends up being a pervert.

I loved it. He’s got a strong voice and is interesting to listen to. My fiancé hated the book though because of his negative mindset

I think, despite being a little shit, Holden might be the loneliest character in all of Literature.

Now you get to watch Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex and it will make sense. Check it out, it’s only 26 episodes. It’ll change the way you look at digital media.

If only The Catcher in the Rye had a Kiss Cam....

Its a good book. Holden reminds of Peter Pan not wanting to grow up. He doesnt try in school to avoid the next phase of his life in my opinion and wants to live a life as a recluse at first in the wilderness, then to be a deaf gas station clerk in the West so as to retain his innocence from society. He goes to New York and exposes himself to the sex drugs and money and tries to save a prostitute from her way of life. I guess in the end he decides to go back to school to be an example to his sister Phoebe who looks up to him. You can see this when he tries to say goodbye to head outwest and she decides to go with him. He refuses and goes to a park where she rides the carousel reminding him of his own childhood and decides to stay in school. I guess he saw Phoebe will eventually go through the same phase as he did except this time she'll have someone to talk to and look up to during that transition to adulthood. Feel sorry for the guy he just wanted advice how to steer in the right direction during that time. Yes he was upset of his situation and reminiscing his childhood but he did throw himself out into the world and sought wisdom in others for direction. Guess thats the case with boarding school being away from family might have had an impact on the guy.

This was a fantastic book!

Never really cared for it. I'm not anti-CITR, just meh.

I thought it was beautiful when I read it.

Loved how easy the book was to read and simple to understand. Holden was too whiny for my taste. That’s because I was also a whiny teenager who needed something to complain about.

I think a lot of the people who disliked it are probably having a much better life than those of us who empathise with Caulfield.

One of my all time favorites too! Makes me so sad hearing how many people dislike it.

Five of the last six assassins in American history had a copy of catcher in the rye on them.

So I am not a big fan of The Catcher in the Rye, I was gifted a copy at the same time I was gifted a copy of Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and Gary Paulsen (author of 'hatchet') autobiography of when he ran the big sled dog race (that I can never spell!).

I was a early to mid teen and I loved them all except Catcher. I can see that it's well written but the story just didn't engage me at all. Taught me a lot about what I like/enjoy reading and to recognise a well written book even if I didn't enjoy it.

Had a flatmate nearly a decade later who actually had a silvery grey streak in his hair because of a head accident!

Honestly I really didn’t like this book. I had to read it for my English class in school and it was fine but I didn’t understand what the overall message of the story really was.

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Honestly, I didn't like Holden Caufield from the start. I found him to be churlish and whiny.

I think Holden is so relatable at the age American kids generally read it that it gets written off. We all have a bit of Holden in us, particularly at that age. Seeing that mirrored back to you can be unpleasant.

I don’t know if this happens for you, but I hear a character’s voice in my head when I read. Sometimes narration is my own voice, sometimes main characters have their own distinctive voices.

But what’s weird is when I read The Catcher in the Rye, I hear Ethan Hawke as Holden Caulfield.

I hate Catcher in the Rye. Holden is obnoxious and I want to punch him in his face. I still have the book with a post-it note from 20 years ago where I'd written a nasty-gram about it. No point in this post other than say it's my least favorite book of all time.

I'm on the other camp on this one. I hated Holden Caulfied. He didn't make any original or meaningful observations at all. He was just a narcissistic sociopath borderline psychopath and misogynist.

The only time I felt sorry for him was when his teacher started to behave inappropriately with him. But he was still an asshole even before that happened to him.

It often worries me when people say they find this character interesting because I'm like did we read the same book? Wtf.

Idk.

To each their own.

I just couldn’t get into the Catcher in the Rye. Holden came of as whiny. It was required reading and so I remember rushing through it so that I could get back to reading the book I actually enjoyed “I know this much is true” by Wally lamb. “Nine Lives” by Salinger, however, was a great read.

I first read this book at 15 or 16, and I was actively depressed and harming myself. The book carried me through so much. I needed it desperately. My English/Language Arts teacher told me she saw me as a catcher in the rye. I’m 25, married, and teach middle school students now. I hope I do catch some of them and help them out. I’m so glad I found the strength to keep going, in my mind, Holden does too, and he becomes much happier, just as I have. This book is so near and dear to me.

Me too! Just the way he...catches that rye

Im more of a "Hollywoo stars and celebrities, what do they know? Do they know things? Lets find out"-fan, but his earlier work is also good.

i read all of salinger in my early 20’s .. profoundly impacted me then and still to this day ..

I picked it up in a bookstore when I had some time to kill when I was like 18 or 19, and read the whole thing in one sitting. It was weird though, because while I found Holden vaguely annoying, I really related to what he was feeling. I read it again in my mid-twenties and had a different appreciation for it. There were also a lot more moments of "holy shit kid, that's fucked up. I'd be angry, and struggling too."

serial killers love it too haha

I loved it when I was a teenager. I despised Holden Caulfield, but also related to him on some level, and that pushed me to really think about my own position in life and thought processes. Now, as an adult, I still love it. I feel like it beautifully stresses the importance of having good emotional support structures and mental health awareness for when your life goes through a rough patch.

This is my favourite book of all time. The first time I read it I was also a whiny teenager and related to it way too much. But my enduring love for it has to be that I always experience something new whenever I reread it.

It probably also helps that I'm more into character-driven stories than plot-centric ones. Reading this always feels so honest, and Holden just expresses so fully.

I completely agree. I once got in an argument at a bonfire over this book 😂. I find people often dismiss it very flippantly and without much analysis.

Inevitably people talk about this book as if the protagonist is someone in their class that everyone else thinks is hot (“he’s so annoying! no redeeming qualities. i’m so much smarter than him why do people like him????”). I don’t think people have the slightest clue how to read and it depresses me endlessly

I didn't like it, but I read it for the first time at the age of 59. I think it depends greatly on when in life you read it. I couldn't relate to Holden Caulfield.

I believe it's so widely criticized because it's so widely read, because it's so well regarded. So you hear more complaints about it than praise, because the praise is taken for granted, which creates a perception of it being poorly regarded... Which is ultimately untrue :) An interesting irony!

Rather than flawed Holden is actually mentally ill, probably bipolar. He’s manic on his trip to New York. He’s also suffering from sexual trauma coming from the other boys at school and his teacher, Mr. Antolini.

He’s also grieving unhealthily the death of his brother, whom you can see he cared for deeply. His parents didn’t handle the death well, adding to Holden’s burden. So he is left to suffer alone unsupported and pushed even farther into his grief.

The book ends with Holden in a psychiatric ward where he is sent to recover from his manic episode.

Literally changed my life from the moment I started reading it… It’s such a special book.

I thought it was okay, but i kept waiting for the plot to start. And then all of a sudden i was on the last page…

This is my favorite book. Resonated so deeply with me

One of the greatest novels ever written and it has much more depth than most people give it credit for.

I’ve read a lot of scholarship about it and I teach it to 11th graders and am going to pair it with AP Lit students’ reading of Hamlet for the first time this year, contrasting two different characters who are privileged but affected psychologically by trauma.

I once had a student argue that the whole novel is essentially an allegorical war novel, and Holden says on chapter 3 his favorite books are all essentially books that don’t glorify violence or war. But this book shows the psychological violence that war and cruelty creates. Admittedly we were watching the movie Rebel in the Rye while going along with the novel, so that added to it. But I thought that was interesting. Essentially the school and NYC are just stand ins for battlefields and the military etc.

For years, as a young man, I felt guilty for liking Holden Caulfield. I read criticism and opinions from people who hated the character and the book. I loved it and read it aloud with my wife not long after we were married. She liked the book as well. I have read criticism of characters that I have loved and love for characters that I’ve hated over the ensuing years. I still love Holden Caulfield. For whatever that’s worth. That’s just the way it goes.

I read this book when I was in 8th grade and it was a big part of what for me to fall in love with books. I thought it was going to be old and boring but my brother was reading it for book report in high school and I just randomly picked it up one day and I immediately related to Holden. I’ve re-read it multiple times. It’s like a comfort read to me now.

I know Salinger had some problematic things come out but I will always love that book. The humor still gets me and it’s timeless.

Will always be a favorite ❤️

Same I don't understand why it's so controversial. Maybe it has to do with relating more to younger people but I've seen people say they liked it more when they read it again when they were middle aged. Good book!

I absolutely love this book! Great main character, a lot of reading between the lines and an emotional read for me.

Have added this to my reading list

Something that bums me out is that I kinda missed the boat on Catcher in the Rye because I read it for the first time just a few years late. I never read it until I was 20 or so; I was always a pretty mature and responsible kid and was in college at the time. I found Holden so whiny, pretentious, and plain annoying. At the time I wished I had read it when I was 16 or so, as I probably would have identified with Holden's angstiness a lot more at that time.

I read it again more recently and sympathized a lot more with him, which probably had a lot to do with the revelation to me that Holden seems to be on the autism spectrum and feels very misunderstood, making his angst much more understandable and sort of justified in my mind.

I'm a HS English teacher and am looking forward to reading this book with some 11th graders later this year and seeing how different students respond to it/Holden as a character.

Woah!! This is possibly the first time I’ve ever come across someone praising this novel online. I absolutely love the catcher- it’s my favorite novel of all time (tied with the goldfinch, shocking ;) ) but everyone I talk to about it just doesn’t agree. Seeing this post made my day!

“I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot.”

I read it for a paper in highschool, and I've loved it ever since. It's been my comfort read for nearly 10 years

I loved it when I was younger, can’t say what I think now because it has been ages! Time for a reread. I do absolutely love Franny and Zooey.

I also like this book. I really just ignore the criticisms about how Holden is a whiny teenager. I mean I was whiny when I was a teenager, and everyone I knew was whiny when they were teenagers. And teenagers I see nowadays are whiny. I think that's just how teenagers are because they are still immature yet are already starting to have adult responsibilities. I remember when I first got my job I was really really annoyed at the fact that for the rest of my life, I will get just around two rest days a week. Nowadays (I'm almost 30 now), I don't even take a full day off (on some days, i just work for less than half a working day), and I don't complain.

It's weird that people read a book about a teenager and criticize it since the said teenager is whiny. It's like reading a book about a serial killer and complaining when that serial killer kills people.

I love it too. The main thing is that socially you're not allowed to tell anyone, especially women, that you like it, or you'll be labeled a pretentious hipster and they'll call it a red flag and text all their friends who will tell them to run screaming. So just go on loving it, and tell it to us, here. I'll listen. I'm on your side.

I can't remember why it's so hip to call it a "red flag" when someone likes this book. Maybe because he's an iconoclast, I dunno. I still like it.

im rereading it now and i really like the vibe the book is giving me: holden aimlessly roaming around new york's street, the random stories about people he come across with and all those funny remarks he called to people he encountered along the way

i think the reason why we love this book so much is the anti-hero embedded in it. we somehow experienced to be an angsty teenager somewhere in our youth.

The book traces the journey from innocent rebellious adolescence to confusing, contradicting, anxious often mysterious adulthood with imagination at the centre. The symbolisms like comforting hat a motif through out the book is quite interesting. No matter where you are in like its a great book to read.

I was never a fan of the book. Holden Caufield doesn't come across as profound as people claim, and the last three pages are just Kill John Lennon.

I think a lot of the criticism is from people who need to have a sympathetic main character that they can fully like. Holden is an insufferable twat, but that’s part of what makes him interesting.

I hate that goddamn book

Worst book ever.

So you like the overuse of the word "and" as well as the two-page run-on sentences? Then you'll absolutely love Faulkner's, Sound & the Fury.

The main character was such as whiny bitch, hated it. But I read it as an almost 40 adult.