The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger's classic turns 60 this year.
Today, I came across this post by a priest whose understanding of himself, Holden, and one of the book's key passages has developed and transformed, thanks to some Flannery O'Connor as well as personal experience.
When I first read Catcher in my junior year of college, my absolute favorite part of the book was when Holden explained to Phoebe that all he wanted to do all day was stand on the edge of a big cliff, making sure that the kids playing some game in the field of rye didn’t fall over the edge. I bracketed that entire section with a blue pen. A couple of years later, when I read Catcher for the second time, that business about keeping the kids from falling over the cliff remained my favorite part, but this time I underlined the entire section with a red pen and then wrote “Priesthood 173” on the first page of my book, which is where I always make a personal index. Every time I’ve readCatcher since, I’ve stopped on page 173 and thought to myself, “this is what the priesthood is all about.” I always thought of Holden standing on the edge of that cliff as an image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and I loved that all he wanted to do all day was to save people. That all changed about two years ago.
Do you have strong feelings about the book?
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Aug '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
Just that Holden Caulfield is a whiny little [expletive].
Edited on May 16, 2011 at 3:25pmMay '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
I read it when I was about 16 and thought it was the coolest thing EVER. I read it again a few years ago and it had lost 90 percent of it's shine. I'd still insist that every young person read it.
Mar '11
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
I have always taken Catcher to be the story of a young man unable to get over his beloved brother's death... though I have never encountered that interpretation elsewhere. In the scene above, I see Holden's desire to catch Allie and save him from death. As opposed to the more general interpretation of saving children from lost innocence.
Anyway, I enjoy it more when I read it that way.
Dec '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
I have to go with Misthiocracy on this one. I read it, again as a HS requirement and I found it tedious and self-indulgent...and dated. I was 16 in 1989.
Of course, I was a 1984/Brave New World guy myself.
Love me some of that dystopia.
Oct '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
I didn't read the book for the first time until I was in my twenties, by which time I had been forced to grow up, get a job, support a wife and child. I didn't like the book, and I didn't like Holden Caufield.
Nov '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
And here I thought by taking the South Park view of the book, I'd chance being the only Philistine in the group. Perhaps because my first read was, much like jhimmi, in my 20's when I had what Zorba the Greek called (paraphrasing) "wife, kids, house, the whole disaster" (or something like that), I too found it a bit tedious and self-indulgent.
Of course, being a Dickens man perhaps skews my perspective a bit as well, so take that for what it's worth.
Usually enjoy your posts though, Mrs. Hennessey... like the rich context, cultural reference, and thoughtful prose.
Aug '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
Love me some 1984, but Brave New World drives me nuts (for different reasons than Catcher in the Rye).
Edited on May 16, 2011 at 4:54pmFeb '11
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
I read Catcher In The Rye for the first time in my mid thirties. What is all the fuss about? Why do people get in such a tizzy about this book? It wasn't even all that good, in my opinion.
It did compel me to give Nine Stories another go (I read it and liked it in high school); I was left unimpressed the second time around. Though, the story-in-a-story-in-a-book in the Laughing Man was entertaining.
Feb '11
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
Franny and Zoey and Nine Stories and Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters are currently on my bookshelf, with no plans of heading off to the thrift store in the next 20 years at least... but I don't own Catcher in the Rye.
Jun '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
Seriously, what's the G*d damn problem with this book? I'd feel crummy if people hated my book. Geeze. People, they can drive you crazy. They really can.
Salinger was smart enough to know that if you say something nobody understands, they'll elevate you and treat you well. And all that crap.
Sep '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
They made us read this in school. I remember not liking it (but me and my stupid friends thought it cool that our teacher made us read a book with curse words in it).
Years later I gave it another try because, it's a classic so it must be good. Second time around the book still stunk. The whole book can be summarized this way,"Waaaahhh! I'm wealthy and well cared for, feel sorry for me!"
Sep '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
Dec '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
While Holden's character seems as the beginning of snarky irony in American popular culture, I felt his observations of the world around him fascinating. Mr. Lileks often notes Holden's disapproval of "phonies" and how this characterization of people became an all too convenient tool to discredit others without any meaningful examination. I also dislike this intellectual cowardice; however, Holden was an angsty teenager and I imagine this was Salinger's attempt to describe the bifurcated America of the early post-war years. For most it was a time to reflect and reevaluate what was important in life. Yet for others life was not pretty. There was an underbelly of society fully debauched and on display in the major urban centers prompting the Greatest Generation to flee. I enjoyed reading this book, but thankfully I never related to any of the characters. I would heartily suggest it to any young reader with the caveat being the broader symbolisms of the story are whats important, not Holden's misanthropic immaturity.
Sep '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
Well, if you really want to hear about it, The Catcher in the Rye was the first novel I liked. Forget Little Women, Joe's Boys, Old-Fashioned Girl, the books my mother wanted me to love. They held absolutely no appeal. Holden Caulfield was my kind of protagonist: overly, neurotically self-absorbed, fixated on his own feelings of alienation, the phoniness of it all. ... I doubt I would like it now—don't have any desire to pull the red-cover paperback off the shelf—but it did me a great favor. It made me want to read.
Aug '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
Goddamned Ackley
Apr '11
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
I had to read it junior year of high school. I don't remember it all that well, except that I thought it was completely overrated.
May '10
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
I was in the running for the World's Worst High School Student Achievement Award way back when, and the school's Dean of Student's forced the book on me and made me read it. He said, "it's your life story; it's everybody's life story."
So I read it but I wasn't convinced about the life story part. I think I vaguely remember not liking Holden Caulfield very much; I really can't remember now.
I mostly remember the Dean, and am grateful he took that and other heroic measures to push a little snot like me to complete high school.
Mar '11
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
Ursula Hennessey:
Do you have strong feelings about the book? ·
Overrated is not a strong enough word for it. Usually touted by the fashionably cynical crowd as a great read. An empty book for empty people.
Apr '11
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
As a side note, the cover art for the original hardback as pictured is by Andy Warhol. Funny, this confluence of two great icons (for better or worse) of the popular culture, before they were icons.
Apr '11
Re: The Catcher in the Rye
I think my reaction to this book on my second read, in my 20s, was one of my first steps to realizing I was a conservative. As a teenager my agnst-ridden heart ached at this story. I picked it up again at 22 -- a high school drop out (I applied to college later as a mature student) working my a-ss off in a series of odd-jobs -- and caught myself saying about HC: 'why don't you stop crying and get a job already.' The end also rang hollow as at this point of my still-early life, I had watched too many people voluntarily jump over the cliff because they knew there was someone there to grab them. That was years before I had ever even heard the names Tocqueville, Hayek, Freidman, Bloom etc..
True story.