If you noticed I did post the review of Animal Farm on the same day as this one. It read these books is rapid succession. They both took me about a day. And all I can say is wow. After reading over 900 pages of fantasy in the past to week, the 350ish pages of these two books seemed so much more important.
The Catcher in the Rye also has the unapproachable feel of a classic. You think it is going to be high and lofty and over you head. Well, you thought wrong. The Catcher in the Rye is rather simple. It is just the story of a teenage boy. It is just three days of his life. Three days in which you learn all about his life philosophies, his family, his "friends", his likes, his dislikes. Basically you learn everything about this kid. Holden Caulfeild is his name.
Holden is one of those characters that was written to be hated, and after you realize that the book is rather enjoyable. After you realize what a phony this kid is, you can laugh at his haughty comments and crude mind. He tries so hard not to be corny or phony, but in the end he turns out to be the biggest phony of all. For all of his hard work he is rewarded with nothing. He continually calls everyone else fake, but he can't look in the mirror and see how fake and empty he is. That really irritated me. It made me want to chuck the book across the room sometimes. Holden thinks he is all that and a bag of chips, and it can kinda get annoying. When talking to anyone his first thought is that they are phonies. I want to know how this 16 year old boy can know so much about life.
I truthfully cannot tell you what you are suppose to get out of this book. I can tell you what I got out of it, but I doubt that it is exactly what Salinger intended. I found that after hating Holden I was motivated to never act like him. At the age of 16 he acts like a three year old. He never considers the consequences his actions have. He never stops to think about how other people feel. They are all phonies and fakes and he doesn't give a damn. By trying so hard not to be fake he becomes exactly what he hates. He pushes everyone away. Holden is the perfect example of what I do not want to be.
Maybe there is something different, something deeper that Salinger was writing about, and maybe I am just to shallow and corny to understand. But I feel that it is sort of refreshing to have a main character who you hate and whose sole purpose it to show you how not to live.
So if you ever find out what the ducks go in the winter please tell me.
Lindsey
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