Haleema's review of The Catcher in the Rye > Likes and Comments
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On the Road is worse.
“Classic' - a book which people praise and don't read.” ~Mark Twain
Anyway, the only reason it's considered a classic in the eyes of High Schools everywhere is because it's a "Stream of Consciousness" and got banned in many places. The second almost guarantees its place as a "classic." Combined with the first, it clinches it for high schools.
@ Selena well said. I don't know why this is required to read in english classes. I read it along with 24 of my other classmates and I felt like I'd rather sit through chinese water torture than this. Only reason why people think this is a classic is because it's considered by others as such. In reality, this book is poorly written, Holden is a terrible character....I could go on and on and on.
YAY. Someone else who does not understand why idiotic, pessimistic books are considered everybody-has-to-read-this CLASSICS.
Normally I understand when people hate this book, but what I don't like is that you've compared him to Bella Swan.
We can all agree that Twilight is the epitome of indulgent fantasy, with the girl being whisked away by a fairy tale hero. Salinger isn't writing fantasy, in fact he writes the opposite. (Nothing good happens to Holden) You can't compare both because Salinger didn't write Holden to live out his own fantasies, he just wrote the story through Holden eyes, to portray the world through his rose tinted glasses.
Also, just an extra note, but Salinger was a pioneer in first person narrative. Maybe it didn't work for you but Salinger has this ability to write prose that flows and synthesizes with thoughts. You said he was unrealistic in using "goddamn" and repeating certain lines to himself. Its psychologically plausible that an emotionally charged young man would make use of multiple expletives in his own thought, its also psychologically plausible for that man to constantly remind himself of certain things.
When reading any kind of book and watching any kind of media there's always the offchance that a miniature critic will subconsciously pick at every single small point that we don't like about the work we're watching. Its especially so for books we're forced to read (which is one of the reasons I feel that Lit classes are lacking) or books which we hear considerable hype about. It's best to try and purge those cynical self-riffing when reading Salinger because he writes prose that requires getting rid of your inner cynic. (Other writers that adopts a self conscious stream is David Foster Wallace) This flow is also present in his other book Franny and Zooey (in the form of flowing dialogue, not thought).
tl;dr Holden is different from Bella Swan. If you can (though you probably wouldn't listen to the words of a slightly emotionally charged fan like me) try rereading the text while purging your mind of that little imp that likes to criticize things (not saying eliminate all thought, but try to minimize nitpicky thoughts while reading) or try to read Franny and Zooey first.
I agree - Holden the vile, spoilt little brat - classic? I think not. Very one dimensional, no depth at all.
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Synesthesia
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Jul 31, 2012 01:23pm
On the Road is worse.
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“Classic' - a book which people praise and don't read.” ~Mark TwainAnyway, the only reason it's considered a classic in the eyes of High Schools everywhere is because it's a "Stream of Consciousness" and got banned in many places. The second almost guarantees its place as a "classic." Combined with the first, it clinches it for high schools.
@ Selena well said. I don't know why this is required to read in english classes. I read it along with 24 of my other classmates and I felt like I'd rather sit through chinese water torture than this. Only reason why people think this is a classic is because it's considered by others as such. In reality, this book is poorly written, Holden is a terrible character....I could go on and on and on.
YAY. Someone else who does not understand why idiotic, pessimistic books are considered everybody-has-to-read-this CLASSICS.
Normally I understand when people hate this book, but what I don't like is that you've compared him to Bella Swan.We can all agree that Twilight is the epitome of indulgent fantasy, with the girl being whisked away by a fairy tale hero. Salinger isn't writing fantasy, in fact he writes the opposite. (Nothing good happens to Holden) You can't compare both because Salinger didn't write Holden to live out his own fantasies, he just wrote the story through Holden eyes, to portray the world through his rose tinted glasses.
Also, just an extra note, but Salinger was a pioneer in first person narrative. Maybe it didn't work for you but Salinger has this ability to write prose that flows and synthesizes with thoughts. You said he was unrealistic in using "goddamn" and repeating certain lines to himself. Its psychologically plausible that an emotionally charged young man would make use of multiple expletives in his own thought, its also psychologically plausible for that man to constantly remind himself of certain things.
When reading any kind of book and watching any kind of media there's always the offchance that a miniature critic will subconsciously pick at every single small point that we don't like about the work we're watching. Its especially so for books we're forced to read (which is one of the reasons I feel that Lit classes are lacking) or books which we hear considerable hype about. It's best to try and purge those cynical self-riffing when reading Salinger because he writes prose that requires getting rid of your inner cynic. (Other writers that adopts a self conscious stream is David Foster Wallace) This flow is also present in his other book Franny and Zooey (in the form of flowing dialogue, not thought).
tl;dr Holden is different from Bella Swan. If you can (though you probably wouldn't listen to the words of a slightly emotionally charged fan like me) try rereading the text while purging your mind of that little imp that likes to criticize things (not saying eliminate all thought, but try to minimize nitpicky thoughts while reading) or try to read Franny and Zooey first.
I agree - Holden the vile, spoilt little brat - classic? I think not. Very one dimensional, no depth at all.
