Review: The Catcher in the Rye
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. 1951.
As a general rule, I'll probably skip on the back-cover version of "what this book is about" in these reviews. Eh. You can pick it up from Wikipedia or something.
I very much enjoyed reading this book, though I haven't read for fun in a long, long time... so I might be biased, but hey. Good times are good times. There wasn't much plot to speak of, though; instead, Catcher came across as more of a character study, and that worked really well. I very much liked Salinger's portrayal of super teenager Holden (he is SO VERY TEENAGER also angst but not overdone) and how his personality comes through in the narration. Also, I was amused almost the entire time I read this book - though never actually laughing aloud - but I can't go into that without potentially spoiling the novel. (So I'll save it for the cut below.)
This is one of the few books that are taught to high school students (though it wasn't taught at my high school, or I'd probably have read it before now) that I think should be taught at that level. There are so many, many novels, plays, and so on which are taught (badly) at the high school level that just turn students off from literature. I'm looking at you, Scarlet Letter.
The Catcher in the Rye doesn't strike me as one of them. It looks perfect for introducing students to a potentially unreliable narrator without forcing them to question everything he says. There's also a lot of psychoanalysis to be done, and hey. Holden's a teenager. High school students are teenagers. He talks about sex, and they talk about sex, too! Oh yeah, maybe that's why this book's on the frequently banned list. Figures.
I actually did get this book second hand from a student... well, from the student's parents, at a garage sale. There's some fairly extensive underlining in my copy along with notes on who was speaking when pronouns were confusing. It was kind of cute! I was glad to see that he read the entire thing or at went through the trouble of underlining confusing/important sections in class, even if he didn't want to keep it in the end. That's quite a feat for a novel in high school.
"Where do the ducks go in the winter?" is one of the questions Holden wonders about throughout the book, and the one time he manages to ask, he doesn't get a satisfactory answer. It's a question both childish and curious, but also entirely legitimate - if he only paid attention in school, he might know. He admires intelligence, but apparently he can't cultivate it in himself.
Holden calls himself illiterate, but he's a bookhound. Holden hates liars, but he lies constantly. Holden hates people, but he's desperate for company. Holden wants to be tough, but he's a pushover. Holden wants to be seen and treated as an adult, but he idolizes children. Holden is, in short, an angsty, hateful teenage MESS, and his lack of self awareness got me laughing inwardly the entire time. The best part is, I think he'd laugh at himself, too - what "kills him" are always the most messed up characters; the ones with the most shame; the ones like him.
But he's not all bad; he'd be over the top if he were, but he's got a capacity for sweetness and empathy (and a general inability to act on it, of course). He's entirely understandable in some respects, as he's traumatized by past events - his brother's death, his classmate's death, and various degrees of sexual assault (as he says "That kind of stuff's happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid") - and can't clearly articulate what happened. Anything like that would mess somebody up. So even while I'm chuckling in a mean sort of way, I also feel sorry for him, and I want to make sure he makes it through his own stupid decisions all right.
Sadly for him, Holden's the biggest phony in the book - at least, until he grows up (which I don't think happens by the end, but the potential is there). All I've got to say is well played, Salinger. You managed to give me a teenager who has the capacity to think like an adult but is still a child, and I very much enjoyed reading about his two day adventure in New York City. This book was good times.
Next: Fluke, by Christopher Moore
As a general rule, I'll probably skip on the back-cover version of "what this book is about" in these reviews. Eh. You can pick it up from Wikipedia or something.
I very much enjoyed reading this book, though I haven't read for fun in a long, long time... so I might be biased, but hey. Good times are good times. There wasn't much plot to speak of, though; instead, Catcher came across as more of a character study, and that worked really well. I very much liked Salinger's portrayal of super teenager Holden (he is SO VERY TEENAGER also angst but not overdone) and how his personality comes through in the narration. Also, I was amused almost the entire time I read this book - though never actually laughing aloud - but I can't go into that without potentially spoiling the novel. (So I'll save it for the cut below.)
This is one of the few books that are taught to high school students (though it wasn't taught at my high school, or I'd probably have read it before now) that I think should be taught at that level. There are so many, many novels, plays, and so on which are taught (badly) at the high school level that just turn students off from literature. I'm looking at you, Scarlet Letter.
The Catcher in the Rye doesn't strike me as one of them. It looks perfect for introducing students to a potentially unreliable narrator without forcing them to question everything he says. There's also a lot of psychoanalysis to be done, and hey. Holden's a teenager. High school students are teenagers. He talks about sex, and they talk about sex, too! Oh yeah, maybe that's why this book's on the frequently banned list. Figures.
I actually did get this book second hand from a student... well, from the student's parents, at a garage sale. There's some fairly extensive underlining in my copy along with notes on who was speaking when pronouns were confusing. It was kind of cute! I was glad to see that he read the entire thing or at went through the trouble of underlining confusing/important sections in class, even if he didn't want to keep it in the end. That's quite a feat for a novel in high school.
"Where do the ducks go in the winter?" is one of the questions Holden wonders about throughout the book, and the one time he manages to ask, he doesn't get a satisfactory answer. It's a question both childish and curious, but also entirely legitimate - if he only paid attention in school, he might know. He admires intelligence, but apparently he can't cultivate it in himself.
Holden calls himself illiterate, but he's a bookhound. Holden hates liars, but he lies constantly. Holden hates people, but he's desperate for company. Holden wants to be tough, but he's a pushover. Holden wants to be seen and treated as an adult, but he idolizes children. Holden is, in short, an angsty, hateful teenage MESS, and his lack of self awareness got me laughing inwardly the entire time. The best part is, I think he'd laugh at himself, too - what "kills him" are always the most messed up characters; the ones with the most shame; the ones like him.
But he's not all bad; he'd be over the top if he were, but he's got a capacity for sweetness and empathy (and a general inability to act on it, of course). He's entirely understandable in some respects, as he's traumatized by past events - his brother's death, his classmate's death, and various degrees of sexual assault (as he says "That kind of stuff's happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid") - and can't clearly articulate what happened. Anything like that would mess somebody up. So even while I'm chuckling in a mean sort of way, I also feel sorry for him, and I want to make sure he makes it through his own stupid decisions all right.
Sadly for him, Holden's the biggest phony in the book - at least, until he grows up (which I don't think happens by the end, but the potential is there). All I've got to say is well played, Salinger. You managed to give me a teenager who has the capacity to think like an adult but is still a child, and I very much enjoyed reading about his two day adventure in New York City. This book was good times.
Next: Fluke, by Christopher Moore