I didn't love Holden. But I did love Franny and Zooey.
Funny thing about black and white. You mix it together and you get gray. And it doesn't matter how much white you try and put back in, you're never gonna get anything but gray.
Lilah ,'Destiny'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Amy - Jan 28, 2010 10:28:34 am PST #10843 of 28404
Because books.
flea - Jan 28, 2010 10:31:07 am PST #10844 of 28404
information libertarian
Holden *is* whiny and irritating. He's a depressed teenager.
I love For Esme with Love and Squalor. A lot of Salinger is too overdone for me, but that one has restraint.
Polter-Cow - Jan 28, 2010 10:37:23 am PST #10845 of 28404
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I read it in high school, and I don't really remember what I thought about it. I don't think I LOVED it, but I didn't dislike it either.
megan walker - Jan 28, 2010 11:01:45 am PST #10846 of 28404
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
I thought Holden was whiny and irritating.
Oh God, yes. I think it was standard non-required prep school reading, so, I read it, but I didn't enjoy it.
Fred Pete - Jan 28, 2010 11:02:23 am PST #10847 of 28404
Ann, that's a ferret.
When I was a sophomore in high school, our English teacher gave us a 3-page list of Books Every Educated Person Should Read. The assignment: Pick one and read it. Half a dozen picked Catcher in the Rye. (I chose Brave New World.)
I did read Catcher a couple of years later. Holden is a well-drawn portrait of a certain side of adolescence -- he's supposed to be a whiny, irritating anti-hero. So on that score, I'd call Catcher a good novel that accomplishes what it sets out to do. But it certainly isn't an enjoyable read, and I fail to see how multiple generations of teenagers adopted it as The Ultimate Novel.
Kathy A - Jan 28, 2010 11:04:19 am PST #10848 of 28404
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I read Catcher in 8th grade, and I thought Holden was whiny and irritating. But I don't have much patience with whiny characters--Hardy's Tess drove me bonkers. I just want to shake her soooo hard!
Tom Scola - Jan 28, 2010 11:04:19 am PST #10849 of 28404
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
When I was in junior high, my teacher suggested reading the book as if Holden's narrative was his talking to a psychiatrist.
Sophia Brooks - Jan 28, 2010 11:04:27 am PST #10850 of 28404
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
I think he is much less likely to appeal to "today's youth" whatever that is. But I did like the book, and read it on my own, not for class.
Actually, I wonder if Holden Caulfield was a proto-hipster?
ETA: I also liked Tess.
§ ita § - Jan 28, 2010 11:07:34 am PST #10851 of 28404
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I read the book on my own, but with the understanding that not only was it a must-read, but that it was a classic and that Holden had been enshrined by many.
Accurate as it may be, I never got why I should care about his story. I don't need my protagonist to be likable, but he didn't have anything to recommend him to me.
I don't remember details about Franny & Zooey, but I don't recall disliking it either.
Seska (the Watcher-in-Training) - Jan 28, 2010 11:11:34 am PST #10852 of 28404
"We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?"
I read Catcher for an American Lit class in uni. It was good in context. But, yeah, Holden is irritating.