Catcher in the Rye

[Hot Lava Mama]

I don't get it! I'm about 3/4 of the way through the book (never read it as a kid) and I just don't get why it's a classic! The writing is poor (yeah, I know, it's suppose to sound like he is talking directly to us), so why would I want to expose my kids to that? (Writing and grammar are a hard subject for me to teach as it is...not a strong area here!)

 

Also, why the heck is it called "Catcher in the Rye"? I haven't finished the book yet, so maybe it is revealed in the end. The only thing I can figure out is one line about some little kid singing a song with "Catch a ... something...then rye or something". Is THAT why?!

 

I just don't get it!

Hot Lava Mama

[chepyl]

I hated the book. I did not get it. There are so many classics to choose from, I will not require that book of my kids. It is on our shelf, when they are old enough, they can read it if they want; but I will not rrquire it.

[Ipsey]

Keep reading, it will explain "Catcher in the Rye"

 

It was an iconoclastic book. I loved it as a young adult. It was a portrayal of a disturbed, confused, alientated teen, almost the first of its genre. I still have a soft spot for it, however. . .

 

I find Holden quite exhausting and frustrating as an adult. :)

 

My husband didn't read it until he was an adult, and he hates it.

 

I wonder if it's one of those books you have to read on your own as a teen, and want to read it, and relate in some way, or else the critical "sweet spot" passes you by for this book.

 

I read it because I it was on a classics reading list I found as a kid. I wanted to read it even more when the teacher suggested I get permission from my parents first. My parents were both familiar with it, and had no problem with me reading it. (That little bit of "oooh, this has something naught in it" was a little bit of a draw).

 

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it :D

 

It still makes me cry in the end.

[acablue]

Maybe it's because I first read it under the covers at night when I was about 13, but it's always been one of my favorites. Every time I read it I find something I missed the last time.

 

Finish it. ;)

[kalanamak]

It helps me remember being a teen.

 

I didn't read it until I'd read all the others: Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenter and 9 Stories. These were higher quality, IMO, but he was trying to write the voice of a teen, not a grown up. De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period was not the story of a Holden, and wasn't written as a Holden would speak.

[Matryoshka]

I wonder if it's one of those books you have to read on your own as a teen, and want to read it, and relate in some way, or else the critical "sweet spot" passes you by for this book.

 

I read it as a teen and absolutely loathed it. Even as a teen I could not relate to his "voice" at all - I thought he was a foul-mouthed entitled whiner. Could.not.stand.it.

[chepyl]

I read it as a teen and absolutely loathed it. Even as a teen I could not relate to his "voice" at all - I thought he was a foul-mouthed entitled whiner. Could.not.stand.it.

 

I think that is why I disliked it so much. I did not and could not relate to it. I also dislike foul language and who I is heavily used, I turns me off.

[Mimm]

I'll refrain from ranting about just how much I hated this book, but you certainly aren't alone. It doesn't get better, there is no good ending, the character is just as lame and annoying in the end as he is in the beginning, nothing interesting happens. :glare:

[Trish]

**SPOILER ALERT**

 

I liked the book, although I can certainly understand why many wouldn't. (and I haven't re-read it as an adult, so who knows) One of the interesting aspects is being in Holden's head and thinking you're getting the straight story (which you are, at the beginning), and then things start to get weird at the end because, in effect, you're experiencing the narrator's nervous breakdown with him, which is jarring. At the time I read it, that was unusual.

[duckens]

I read it at least 3 times between being a teen and in my early 20s. I never understood or liked it.

 

However, I ran into a friend's mom a few years back. She had just retired from being a youth librarian (middle school) for years and year. She said she had never understood or liked the book either. Then she re-read it after retirement and she thought it was one of the funniest things she had ever read.

 

Maybe I just need to wait another 25 years......

[NotSoObvious]

I was not a reader in high school, but I read this book at least three times on my own and loved it.

 

Maybe I need to read it again. Maybe I'd hate it now. ??

[stripe]

I think you have to consider that, at the time, few (if any) books talked about real teens' experiences in their voice. The confusion and way he dealt with some issues was, I think, never addressed by most books, which skip over a lot of the growing up process. I was struck for example, when I reread it recently, by Holden's disgust for the boy who was always forcing himself on girls. Anyway the fact that many books now do that, might make it unremarkable. But I think that's a big thing for Catcher in the Rye.

 

Personally I found the book somewhat dated, timewise, when I reread it. I can't imagine a 16 year old being able to rent a hotel room by himself, even in a seedy hotel, for example, and I found him quite a lot more innocent than I remember. People carry on that he's a foul mouthed thisandthat, and when you read it, he is pretty inexperienced and innocent. Or at least that's how he seemed to me. I think in high school (when we read it in 10th grade English) I was distracted by the fact that there's a prostitute who pops up, but in retrospect, I see him differently.

 

It's not my favorite book, though. I wonder how young men feel about it.

[Hot Lava Mama]

Interesting comments on the book. I thought I just "wasn't getting it" because I was not well read as a teenager. Trying to make up for it now. I have heard about it for many years, so perhaps my expectations were too high!

 

Thanks everyone!

Hot Lava Mama