Friday, June 1, 2007
41. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I read this a few years back and was "yeah, alright" about it. Not a huge fan but not ripping the book in two either. Since teaching at my current school, I've taught it twice already and have developed a real admiration for Salinger's use of symbolism and characterisation. The book describes a sarcastic, alienated teenage boy and a weekend he spends in New York after being kicked out of his fourth private school. He's a loner who's desperate for human connection at the same time and the way Salinger traces his unravelling mental state is really really clever. There's more to find each time I read it and I love that.
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3 comments:
I hate to say it, but I really disliked this book. I have no idea why it's considered such a classic, because all it did was annoy me no end. I know everyone has an opinion, and I'm obviously different to a lot of others, I just couldn't get into this and had no affinity for either the story or the characters. *sigh* I kept waiting for something to happen...
I think that's why it's such a classic with teenagers. :) On my first read, I was driven insane by Holden's narration too. It's really a classic because of its breaking of all the traditional narrative conventions and the way that it steered American literature away from the British norms. I can appreciate the symbolism and "cleverness" of the writing, but that said, I don't think it's one of those books you can love on first reading unless you can really identify with Holden in some way.
I do remember thinking that maybe teenagers would "get it" in a way that I didn't - I remember being repetitive back then *grin* I was more frustrated because of the stuff he left out - details about what was actually happening in the bigger picture!
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