The Catcher In The Rye

I liked it well enough. Doubt I'll reread tho.

I absolutely loved it when I was 14 and had to read it in school. Holden Caulfield resonated with me. The book is still very good, though I don't quite relate to him as well anymore.

>was born in a rich family
>tall
>cute
>smart
>still manages to be a whiny little faggot

Fuck this gay book.

EXACTLY.

He was a little bitch boy

I originally read it when I was 15 and could certainly sympathize with Holden. We were both prep school kids from the northeast with younger sisters and an aversion to some social conventions. I read it again nine years later and liked it even more. Now I'm reading the rest of Salinger's stuff and while I find it less enjoyable than a Catcher in the Rye, I'm glad I chose to do so.

This is the book that's fashioned a generation of self-obsessed neurotic fuckwits. Unironically the only book I think should be burned en masse

why does almost every poster in this thread only talk about the main character of the novel? is this Veeky Forums or r/books?

>essentially molested by his favorite teacher
>saw someone's lifeless and bloody body after they committed sudoku
>"whiny little bitch boy"

what's the difference?

That one thinks more highly of itself than the other?

The problem with it is that it's assigned to kids at an age where they can't really engage with Salinger's intentions, and thus end up thinking they've outsmarted him when they've actually misparsed the entire story, ie:
>Catcher is shit, Holden is whiny, he always complains about phonies but he's the REAL phony,!

This is the most obvious, on-the-nose part of the book to an adult reader, and certainly not some grand secret Salinger is trying to slip by you, but very few people actually go back and read it when they're older because of the original bad experience.

Also most miss the rape scene.

How do you MISS a rape scene?

It's a fantastic book. Anyone who hates it probably doesn't read seriously and is a total pleb.

Morons

i can see why people hate it. because it's probably the most misinterpreted book of the last 50 years

interpret it right for me real quick

well for one, the main character isn't supposed to be a hero that you relate to. he's not some good guy. and as a result, a bunch of whiny highschoolers latched onto it like 'wow that's so ME'

that's for starters. What's main course?

I think it's one of the most poignant depictions of the anxiety that comes with leaving childhood. Its also really great how Salinger turns the readers (assumed) judgement of Holden in on itself. The rape scene killed me, it really did.

Holden's loss of innocence as he grows into adult but really struggles with the memory of watching a classmate commit suicide in his own jacket, ultimately realizing at the end of the book that he doesn't have the power to save or protect anyone; all a literary device for the author to work out his experiences of WWII

>rape scene
can't seem to recall it

what about the rape

Hehehehe Holden rapped phobo xD!!!

Did she orgasm?

I can sympathize with Holden, and I did love his commentary on things.

wtf i love paul mccartney now

what rape scene?

exactly

>It was really grating to read.

>But the last chapter would have been meaningless if it wasn't so grating to read.

I was never sure how to rate this book.

Read it when I was 18

Only reason I hate it is because people talk about it like it means something. It's literally "nothing happens" the book

Read it when I was 15-16 and loved it. Still think it's a great book but it's for a certain time and a certain place, and imo it's inherently moronic for adults to shit on it, especially if they didn't read it til they were an adult themselves. I don't think kids should be forced to read it in school though, I think it's something they should discover themselves, imagine being forced to watch The Breakfast Club or Stand By Me in school and then being forced to discuss the themes in it and how it relates to you. It takes out the overall experience of the book. Makes shit feel almost inorganic and forced and basically takes away any chance of the reader truly relating to the book (for the majority, at least). That's where so much of the misinterpretation and hatred stems from. Same goes for The Outsiders, I think it's the kind of book that you're just supposed to experience personally.
Feel it, relate to it, learn from it, grow, and so on.

What the fuck is this stupid rape meme about? I have looked around a bit and have not seem any reasonable arguments for the claim of a rape scene. Also, I have only seen this shit on Veeky Forums. Am I getting memed hard?

I didn't like it. Holden was a shit, all the events in the book were uninteresting to me and their conclusions and development were too similar and bland. I also think that the writing style, phrases, observations, development can be easily replicated by anyone, thereby decreasing the novel's 'specialness, effectiveness, etc. It also felt like reading the same thing over and over again, for 200 pages long. However, apparently teens resonate with Holden and his character seems to capture their worldview very well. But since I read it when I was 22, and forgot how I was back then to a certain extent, the book, combined with the points I raised, left me feeling cold.

They made me read it in highschool at a slow rate so we could discuss it every chapter. At first I went with the pacing of the class and then I said fuck it and started reading ahead by like 3 chapters.
It certainly does capture a part of life where everyone can relate to Holden but I've always been overly self conscious of my thoughts and actions. I definitely related to the ending lines, but soon after I feel like most people hit a moment of clarity where they ask what the fuck theyre doing with themselves.
Idk its hard to describe but eventually I learned to abandon the concept of asking myself if I was a phony or not and just become myself without the need to fit myself into mental category. I believe this is key in spotting when other people are "trying to hard"

Read it when I was 15 and loved it. Read it at 18 and hated it. Read it again at 24 and loved it even more than I did at 15. Salinger was a master.

>fashioned
Implying.
It predicted it, not perpetuate it.
Prove me wrong.

also
>missing the whole point of the book.
sure Holden is a smug prick but the book is actually a take on all the fucked up things Holden saw in the formation years of his life.

Same, I thought missed something reading the scene with Mr. Antolini but apparently Holden rapses Phoebe.

see: 4chandata.org/lit/-lit--what-is-it-about-the-Catcher-in-the-Rye-that-makes-it-different-from-other-YA-fiction-Its-usually-treated-in-a-different-way-a725994

This book IMO is like a handjob from a decent chick, Its like ill never say no, I wont for the life of me stand here and say I hate it or wouldn't do it again... But I know and have experienced much better things... Tho at times get nostalgic and Call her up for the sake of it

Join a book club please.

There are 0 decent ones in my area, and if I do find one they're women inlove with danielle steele or Fantasy clubs lel

Organise one yourself.

Will you join?
I take it like you like my review, Im happy to rate any books you havent read on the handjob scale or share with you many other comparative similes

Sure. I appreciate insightful reviews.

Ah you'd love my review of the Moby dick then!

"At first I was like OMggg hurry up and get on the boat, few hundred pages later I was like Lol whAaaaat then all of a sudden lol matrydom fucks sakes and then was like Eh not bad a njice way to encapsulate the human struggle against powers greater than us n that"

Objectively better than those frivolous fantasy clubs and danielle steele women.

Goddam, this still hasn't convinced me, Im fairly confident that their relationship was innocent. This is bothersome, I have such a massive backlog and now I'm gonna have to go reread this because of some lit memery that I don't even believe. Oh well, at least this has given me more of an interest in something I already enjoyed.

It's just a neckbeard imagining things; it's a meme

>it's j-just a meme!

postflaviana.org/a-pedophile-fantasy-in-the-rye/
Ignore the 'why' which is a bunch of conspiracy nonsense, and focus on the actual textual exegesis

you dummy the teacher was checking if he had a fever