The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

I figured since my first post on the Online Book Club was about my favorite book, my second book would be about one of my least favorite books: The Catcher in the Rye.

I purchased the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger because of hype and hype alone. The movies "Conspiracy Theory" and "Six Degrees of Separation" as well as many others make reference to this book and I wanted to know what it was all about. I did not read it in high school as it was not part of our curriculum.

I found Catcher in the Rye to be an extremely dull book that was hard to get through. The novel definitely was easy to put down, the hard part was picking it back up again. I found Holden to be a self-absorbed, self-righteous, ego maniacal, narcissistic whiner. Am I being a little harsh? Perhaps, simply because this describes a large portion on teenage males. J.D Salinger may have really nailed the psychological tendencies of a teenage boy going through an identity crises at the point of his life where things are really changing, but do I want to know about it and join him on his adventure and discovery? Definitely not.

For those of you who have not read the book The Catcher in the Rye, it is through the eyes (first-person narrative) of a young man named Holden who gets kicked out of school and spends a couple of days in New York "finding himself". Basically he gets drunk, gets in fights, parties it up a little and thinks everyone is a "phony". When really, he is the phony.

He hates how everyone acts differently when they are around different people. How one person can be rude and inconsiderate to their friends but polite and respectful to a teacher for example. Lets be realistic, we all have different mannerisms and behaviors when we are around different people, and Holden is no different. Sadly for Holden, on top of being a hypocrite, he is also a bore.

The only people I have spoken to who have enjoyed the novel The Catcher in the Rye are men. Maybe there is something about J.D. Salinger's book that I just don't get because I am missing that ever-important Y chromosome.

Did you read The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger? Let us know your views on it or your opinion of my views on it by adding a comment below and being a part of the Online Book Club.