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Jade asked this question about The Catcher in the Rye:
Am i the only person who fails to understand why this book is considered a classic, to me it was boring and tedious and the plot failed to engross me as many other books have?
Piers Newberry He just got there first, just like DuChamp, Miro, Picasso and Kerouac. They are definitely not great artists. There are many amateurs just as good. Th…moreHe just got there first, just like DuChamp, Miro, Picasso and Kerouac. They are definitely not great artists. There are many amateurs just as good. They are valuable simply because they got there first. In 1951 this book was revolutionary in the context of its time. You have to remember, for example, the adverts filled with massively phoney perfect families, this was considered the ideal. This book is a complaint about this innocent ambition for people in 50's society; its says no everything in life is messy; everything in life sometimes falls apart and that peoples minds are chaotic - the antithesis of 50's idealism. Hence the book garners the same infamy as DuChamps urinal.

It is also storyless to a degree which can be annoying for the reader, but moreover it is a study of character, which if you don't like the character, is an absolute disaster for the reader.

So not a book for everyone, but revolutionary in structure and highly remarkable in the context of its time. Similar to DuChamps urinal, it would be nothing more than ordinary if it was produced today. (less)
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The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
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