50th anniversary of Catcher in the Rye

Miguel_Sanchez

Read a piece in today's Tribune about how this is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Salinger's Cathcer in the Rye. Of course the man himself won't be doing interviews or anything like that, he's even forbid the publishing company from releasing a special edition print of the novel.

But I really posted this just to get other people's impressions of the book. I presume you've all read it.

Personally I'd love to be able to produce a book as readable and true as Catcher. Never for a minute did I not believe that I was reading the words of a ****ed-off sixteen year old who thinks too much and never lets himself fit in.

So let's hear what yous all thought of it - good, bad or indifferent.

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I'm the Dude

DeVore

God I remember thinking it was a whingy book which was utter crud.

Still I was forced to read it as part of the LC so maybe my view was coloured and that was a good while ago

DeV.

LoLth

I hated that book with a passion.

The main character whined and moaned non-stop! The word "like" popped up at least three times on every page and on one page I remember counting it 17 times!!!

I thought the story really *went* nowhere and Holden was swinging between too mature and wise and too kiddie and pre-adolescent. I didn't hate the book because I had to read it for my leaving, I hated it for it's own sake.

As a story, lacking.
As an insight into 17 year old boys gone mental, lacking but a bit better than some others.
As an example of style and content blended to create a work of English masterpiece, lacking.

I know some people really liked it and identified with it. I think it just annoyed the hell out of me from page one. I might read it again though to give it a fair chance before I completely shelve it.

tHE vAGGABOND

agreed with dev..

If I could have gotten my hands on that Holden Caufield I would have beaten him with a big stick!

Miguel_Sanchez

The whole point I thought was that Holden was supposed to be a whiner - hence the sense I had that it really was written by a teenager - as for the use of 'like' and slang throughout - that was ground breaking at the time. If you got annoyed at that I wouldn't like to see you try and wade through the narrated chapters of Trainspotting.

Wisdom and yet inmaturity - hits home for me when talking about teenagers. I was that way myself, quite level headed and mature about a lot of things but irritatingly immature about others. Again I thought Salinger got it spot on.

Still though each to their own.

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I'm the Dude

WhiteWashMan

i really really really really really hate this book.
and again, its nothing to do with the LC. i read it along time before i even started the leaving, but i could not at any time sypothise with the character of holden caulfield.
i think it was because he was a pain in the a$$ by trying to be different, and then went of and moaned about it.
like hello!
like everyone was supposed to commit suicide or something if they didnt win the match.
never liked him after that and that was the first page
and when he goes on about having sweaty hands in the cinema with whats-her-name and it not mattering, i was like, how sad are you?
yeah! lets hire out a prostitute and then have a chat about life! yeah!
ya big poofta ya.
grrr, i hated everything about it because he thought he was trying to be some sort of psudeo intellectual, and all he did was annoy people coz he really want that bright.
twat!
god that book gets my blood boiling even 10 years later!!!!!!!

GreenHell

Theres a very good band that use that name that play down here alot. Nothing to do with the topic but I just thought I'd mention it.