Just like Ampoule, I read this book twice: first, when I was 10 and second, now, when I am 14. I really enjoyed it this time. The first time I loathed it. So,it is important to read it when you're close to Holden's age. It makes you understand it better.
Dream as though you'll live forever, live as though you'll die today (James Dean)
I read it because it was the inspiration to kill John Lennon. So I expected something very provocative and controversial. I was disappointed. However, as a psychological study of a disenfranchised youth having to face his imminent future as an adult, it is quite striking. His sojourn home is like a rite of passage, that reaches its climax when Holden is watching his sister on the carousel. He realizes in that moment, that all the phoniness of the world is nullified in sublime moments of transcendence. The wheel will continue to turn (the carousel going round and round), but in moments of bliss (his happiness, his sisters' happiness) the suffering becomes meaningful and necessary.
I love the book.
I think the use of the words "goddamn" and "phony" was necessary in establishing the main character, who is a 17-year old boy. It is surprising to a point that the boy has a wide vocabulary at his age, but granting that Salinger wanted to create a smart but young guy, he would definitely blend the use of wit and sarcasm with recurring words as "goddamn" and "phony" for Caulfield.
I read the book on my own many years after my own teenage years, so I'm only guessing why it is included in the curriculum in schools. I think teenagers will relate to this work because it is about a teenager, but the idea that must get across is the free prose that Salinger used to convey his message. This is, after all, creative writing.
That's exactly what I was about to post haha. Well said, Caffeine!Originally Posted by caffeinecups
I'm weary with right-angles, abbreviated daylight,
Waiting for a winter to be done.
Why do I still see you in every mirrored window,
In all that I could never overcome?
I read the book a few weeks ago and I loved it. I was actually a little sorry when it ended. For me it is the kind of book that you can take as much or as little away from it as you want.
I read this one or two years ago, and it was a disappointment. After all I'd heard people say about it I was excpecting at least something that would keep me interested enough to want to read the whole thing, but this time finishing it seemed to take forever (ok, I read it in one night, but it seemed to take much longer than that)
Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes.
Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera
I liked the book when I was a teen. I was able to identify with Holden as are most teens. I agree with everything B wrote about the book. I read it several times in my younger days and I think kids should read it. I suppose it’s a great book if all you have read is Goosebumps or something along that line. Now the only thing I still ever think about is the “phony” friend with the dirty shaving kit. I know people like that- perfect on the outside and a mess on the inside, but content because they like the packaging. 5.5/10.
No book is going to appeal to everyone - but this one appeals to a large number of people. I think the reason for its popularity, as others have already pointed out, is that it conveys so very well the feelings we all had as youngsters - regardless of our age now. I was a teenager long before they had cellphones and text messaging (and I'm glad of it), but I am sure I went through a lot of the same agony that teenagers today are going through. Holden Caulfield went through the same things when he was a teenager, which was even before I was a teenager.
It's part of what we call growing up. It's something that everybody has to do, and the book's appeal relates to the fact that certain aspects of life never change over time.
I agree with you wholeheartedly on the language and the choice of words. Very few teenage readers know enough about life in general to appreciate what this book says - they should read it when they get a little older. One of the teenagers who commented earlier on this book took exception to the fact that "goddamn" and "phony" made their way into the dialogue so frequently.
If someone were to write the story today, it would include "that's awesome, dude", and "like, you know ... " instead of "goddamn" and "phony", and those words would be repeated over and over and over again. The point isn't which particular words get over-used - it's the idea that every generation has its own unique set of over-used words.
This book is so unbelievably banal, I can't understand why it is so widely read. What a waste of time.
It's amusing and depressing,
the ending was too short, too basic too simple, but good all in all,
it speaks with a certain voice that I enjoyed listening to,
"Yes, madam, I am drunk. But in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly."
-Winston Churchill
I guess I wasn't a typical teenager enough to find Holden's thoughts something I could relate to, though I've had my share of teenage agony as well as everyone else
Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Her hair was golden as the sun's rays and her soul as clear and blue as her eyes.
Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera
I gave my vote from the reading of it some years ago as a teenager.
Et l'unique cordeau des trompettes marines
Apollinaire, Le chantre
I found it a great read. I must admit that maybe I wouldn't have liked it as much if I didn't relate so much to the character. That versatile and paradoxical concept of "phoney" was starting to get to me too, but I was very amused at the use of "goddam", sometimes it got me laughing on the subway. What I liked the most, though, was this mixture of philosophical innocence (a lot like in 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'The Little Prince') and heavy, 'rated-r' topics and situations. He actually makes it work.
...but of course I understand the importance of relating to Holden in order to read this, that's the thing about first person narrations. I have undergone sheer torture while trying to get through so-called "classics" because I had no sympathy for the character at all, the only consolation being that he might die in the endNot the case this time, though. I too dream about building a cabin and chopping my own wood in the winter.
While the book isn't high on my reading list. Its still written with such force that I understand why people like it. Unfortunately, those books which are my favorite are similar, but written by adults for adults. War & Peace...Tolstoy's classic! A bastard son is granted acceptance as the son of a man of position. The dillema he has is that he is now accepted in social circles where people try to scheme. He becomes disillusioned and watches as Russia is being attacked by the French under Napoleon. It catalogs the lives of the ones he loves, and how he inspires love in others. Its Holden as Pierre.
"I am glad to learn my friend that you had not yet submitted yourself to any of the mouldy laws of Literature."
-John Muir
"My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light"
-Edna St. Vincent Millay
I read this book when I was 16 and it changed my life. I used to carry a copy with me in my pocket everywhere I'd go, and I read it at least 16 times. I'm ten years older and I still strongly identify with this character. I bought extra loner copies just so I wouldn't have to loan my copy with all of the dirty words underlined and risk losing it. I've never seen a character come alive with such convincing and insightful psychology as this instance. I've read Hemingway, Dante, Cervantes, Tolstoy. It's still my favorite book.
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