the catcher in the rye

I love catcher in the rye. SunFree, I totally agree with you. The beauty of the book is more in how it's written than in the plot. Well...that might not be totally true, but the descriptions of his sister are devestating. I wish I could think of more examples but I haven't read the book in a while. I just remember the feeling I got from those descriptions when I read your post. I don't think the book is overrated in the least.

 

I love this book but it ruined Glastonbury 2004 for me! I spent a lot of the festival in my tent, reading this book and alienating myself from the outside world. I related to Holden like no other character, and of course the shrooms made it close to reality. I just thought to myself "fuck this, I'm not spending time with those phonies(my friends!)". I only had two REAL friends and about ten who I didn't know well or I thought were fake. Don't get me wrong, I went out quite a bit but I wish I made more of it now :-(

 

all of the hidden messages. The author was greedy and knew that if he wrote a book that broke some boundaries and got it banned from some schools and related it to kids then it would be a hit. look at it now.

 

I thought it was okay, though to be honest, i still don't really get why everyone raves about it so much.

 

It's a different time period and it was revolutionary then, which generally means people will hate it now. It's the whole "I can't stand I Love Lucy" thing because you don't realize what America was like the day before it came out and then the day after.
Catcher in the Rye just doesn't appeal to the applicable age group anymore for a lot of reasons, mostly because it seems outdated and we're such an overmedicated, overpsychoanalyzed society that we just say "Clearly he has social anxiety. Get that boy some Xanax, STAT!" But it was so much more than that--and I think it's a fair statement that everyone that experiences "15" acts and think like Holden--accept it. It's that critical breaking point when you realize that childhood was great, but false, and adulthood is honest, but brutal. So what can you do but try to be stagnant in protest? But the world just swallows him whole...

 

Kozmicblues i disagree with you. The thing that makes Catcher in the Rye so great is taht it DOES and can still relate to the youth of today even 50 years after it was written.

I personally thought the book was unbelievable and it really has changed me

 

I thought Catcher was awesome. Even I, a FEMALE (lol at you, fellow poster) totally related to Holden. I loved his rambling speeches, there was a total honesty about it. The thing about Catcher though... someone asked about this, I can't remember who... anyway what's kind of wrecked it now is that it has become "popular" and "cool" to read. Crazy lunatics carry it in their pockets when they shoot people! OMG go read it! The book has, in a way, lost a piece of its soul that way. It's very sad. I have two or three copies of Catcher, as I keep wearing them out. I find comfort in Holden...

 

Can I just ask what an "educated, good background point of view" is?

 

some one may have already asked this question, but i was wondering what people think actually happened at the end.
did he have a nervous break down and why??
i'm commenting on the scene when hes on a roundabout
S

 

I read the catcher in the rye in German, and a short while after that I read the bell jar as well [@kidswillbeskeletons] ... I enjoyed the catcher a lot & I could read this novel again and again. Sometimes I really did not know whether to laugh or cry. Has anyone of you read Stephen Chbosky's "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"? It kind of reminded me of the catcher in the rye...

 

well, you knoe, that i thought it was pretty good. i cant say exactly what others say about it, because i didnt need to study or analyze it, like others did, but i really enjoyed it. Isnt this a shame that it is BANNED, actually prohibited in some schools, school has taught me soooo much in the way of reading and understandidg literature that with out it i would not be a writer today. shame on you! but try out 9 stories if you want, espescially TEDDI, the last chapter! so amazing. all i can say now is that my knees are uncontrollable cause ive been drinking too much out in the woods and singing poetry about the war.

war, we dont need no more.

simple yes, but true, right?

plus alot more but those are secret drunk utterings that no one will ever know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYAAAAA YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSShhh


much love.

a lover

 

Hello Tisbutehname,
thank you for the hint!
I read Salinger's "Teddy" this morning & was so impressed by it!