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.
Death is your art. You make it with your hands day after day. That final gasp, that look of peace. And part of you is desperate to know: What's it like? Where does it lead you? And now you see, that's the secret. Not the punch you didn't throw or the kicks you didn't land. She really wanted it. Every Slayer has a death wish. Even you.
Spike ,'Conversations with Dead People'
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."
Polter-Cow - Jan 28, 2010 10:37:23 am PST #10845 of 28476
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
megan walker - Jan 28, 2010 11:01:45 am PST #10846 of 28476
"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 28476
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 28476
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 28476
hwæt
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 28476
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 28476
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 28476
"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.
Atropa - Jan 28, 2010 11:15:29 am PST #10853 of 28476
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
I've never read Catcher. I take it I wouldn't like it?
brenda m - Jan 28, 2010 11:20:29 am PST #10854 of 28476
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
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.
This was pretty much my reaction. And I didn't really get what was supposed to be so profound and life-changing. At all.