The Catcher in the Rye - 03/09/2007

I'm trying to formulate a cohesive/coherent description to "The Catcher in the Rye." I'll probably update this post a couple of times. If there are newer posts after this one, then I am probably done. I hope.

I suppose had I read this book in high school, I may have had a different reaction to this book. That's true with any book though, right? Its meaning changes for you as you change. I found this book actually in the Young Adult section of our (lame) library. I never had to read it in high school.

Holden Caulfield. When I told my father-in-law I was reading "Catcher," that's the first thing he said - Holden Caulfield. The boy has issues. He curses a lot - mainly G.D. every other word and the F word in one section. No wonder this book was banned a lot throughout the US back in 1940's, when it was first published. Salinger had some serious guts. Here I am, 60 years later, still a bit stunned at Holden's attitude and speech. It's nothing if you are a jaded 21st century person, but like I was told once at work, some of my ideas and attitudes belong back in the 1800's.

Holden's a pain in the butt. He is. I understand he has issues and was depressed. I get it. Maybe if I were reading this at age 16, I'd be over the moon about it. I would *really* get his 'angstyness.' I must not be used to looking into the mind of someone who *is* depressed; whose every action, every observation, every reaction to others' actions, "depresses the hell" out of him. His roommates, his teachers, the hotel staff, the NUNS, taxi drivers, the Rockettes. Practically everything irritated him, except his sister. He was irritating me. And this was only about 24 hours or so in one of his days. He depressed the hell out of me, although come to think of it, where DO the ducks from Central Park go to during winter?

I did enjoy the reason it was called "Catcher in the Rye." I started reading this book and had absolutely no idea why it was called "Catcher in the Rye." I really don't know what I was expecting; certainly not a story about a young, depressed teen told in the first person. I thought that his explanation to Phoebe of being the catcher in the rye was sweet. He was so lost. This was the only thing he wanted to do - be with kids and be the catcher in the rye, in case they fell. Sadly, what he really needed was for someone to catch him as he fell.

"Lonely Hearts," Angel Season 1, Episode 2