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).