I've never read this before

>I don't really know much about it
>it may or may not be the best time to start

truly a beacon of wisdom and knowledge user. thank you for putting op on the route to enlightenment

well jeez buddy he's asking if it's a good time to start. how am i supposed to know if he's 16 or 109.
dumb ah nigga

dont worry fampai i know you were trying to help

im only being cheeky :~)

Couldn't stand that book. The main character was insufferable.

I would say don't bother, unless you are 15 or want to return to when you were.

It's pretty good. Won't change your life. Better to read it older, if you're a teenager you risk becoming an insufferable cunt who talks about people all being phonies.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is that this book is great. It really is. So many goddamn books. This is one of the very few that isn't phony. You ought to read it, this book. It's great, it really is.
Not like any of those John Green books that get turned into movies. I hate the movies. John Green is a prostitute.
Goddamn phony

>I never had any motivation to read it and never was forced in school, never read any guides or annotations or read anybody else's opinions and I just decided to read it.
Me, too. I was vaguely aware of its existence, but only decided to read it after seeing a brief description. I think a lot of the hate for the book comes from people being forced to read it, or who are expecting it to be something it's not. The Catcher in the Rye really isn't a book where either of those things work.

It's a small, personal story about a troubled teenage character going through some hard things in his life. All it really does is try to get across how he's feeling and the ways he tries to process what's happening around him. If a person can't relate to Holden or what he's going through, they're not going to be able to connect to the book, and that's going to make them hate it if they were forced through it or were expecting some kind of life-changing experience. So OP, if the way I described the book sounds appealing to you, go for it. If it doesn't, then don't, it won't affect you in any way.

I found the phony, guys.

I'd say it's kinda meh. The whole point of it is that you can't hold unrealistic expectations, or you'll eventually become something you hate/don't accept; yet many readers (mostly teens, I hope) seem to think it's the exact opposite: that the book incentivizes this kind of "idealistic cynicism" where the whole world sucks but YOU are a special snowflake.

Eh, maybe they never got to read it all the way to the end? It's kinda like A Clockwork Orange, which many fans love solely because of the violence. La mort de l'auteur, amirite?

More like they didn't read the beginning. The end seems pretty peaceful unless you remember that the book is framed as a story Holden tells while he's in a mental institution. By the end of the story he hasn't adapted to the real world, or at least whatever unknown further pains he goes through are enough to seriously break him down.

I don't think any kid reading this in high school wasn't taught that Holden is meant to be immature and not a role model. Either the kids who idolized Holden ignored the teacher entirely, or acted contrarian.

Yes. It's a book that, even if you hate it, you really should read it to know where you stand with regards to it.