Thank you for this review. While I may not completely agree with your perspective, I personally loved the book, I appreciate you bravely sharing your opinion. I will say, if only his one redeeming quality, it's where he feels happy watching his sister on the carousel.

Trying to read this book felt like someone was spoofing writing a book as a joke. I'm so glad I watched a review on this book before wasting time. The Catcher in the Rye as a classic makes me feel embarrassed for humanity... It's a bad book that people have projected their own issues into to create imaginary depth. Otherwise its empty of any redeeming qualities.

I watch few reviews before reading a book. I watch probably like 10 reviews some liked it some don't. You review is the best. You saved alot of my time thank you. Thats being said I been to rebelious stage and at that time I used to hate myself for it becuase I was disturbing the lives of people around me. If you are like Houlding either you need to accept your guilty and if you can't control you emotions than you need help with your mental health period. There is nothing to be proud of this stage in my opinion. Again thank you. You gain a new subscriber❤

I was assigned this in 9th grade. I still have no idea why it's considered classic American literature. What's even worse is that it is so hyped as this jewel of the western canon. So many older students and adults said this book changed their life. Nothing freaking happened in the story, so how on earth is it supposed to be life changing? I hated the essay prompts we were given for this book. And I resented the teacher for making me feel as I was too thick to see the 'hidden meaning' of the story. Now I realize, there is no hidden meaning...Holden is just a self-indulgent a-hole.

This is one of my favorite books ever, and although this is a rant review, I appreciate that you acknowledged and respected other alternate views to the story :) Personally, I'm into character over plot, so the lack of plot didn't aggravate me much. Also, most classics are driven more by recurring themes and ideas and character development over plot, so when I picked up the catcher in the rye, I wasn't expecting too much from the storyline anyway. I'm not a huge fan of Holden, and most of what you were saying about him was true; he is rude and is a compulsive liar. But I think that's what made him such a strongly written character - because his persona is consistent and the writer stayed true to it right through to the end, which is hard to do for a lot of writers. Another thing, I'm 99% sure Salinger deliberately wrote a character who'd frustrate the reader. Holden's personality is what you see in real life people. His thoughts and emotions in the story are so raw, it makes him come across as a dick, but really, you'd be surprised how many Holdens you've met in real life. It's also important to bear in mind that Holden is writing this as a sort of journal at a psychiatric ward, the narrative is a stream of consciousness, so the reader is basically diving right into Holden's mind. If Holden's mind is supposed to be crap and asshole-y, and that's what you thought as a reader, then the author did his job right, which is why I appreciate the book. The reason why I think this book is considered a classic is because, at the time it was written, it was pretty much unseen for such an unfiltered narrative to be written, and Salinger was one of the first. In some ways Holden was revolutionary, because so many works that followed TCITR explored a narrative similar to Holden's, which didn't really exist before TCITR. (If you've read The Outsiders, you can see definite parallels). I too think Holden is an asshole, but I loved how alive he became whilst I was reading it. I thought he was hilarious even when he was being rude, and at other times I just saw him as a guy who saw the world at a different angle to everyone else, and it was BECAUSE no one else was seeing it the same way that he was, it frustrated him, leading to all these negative thoughts that you read. Nevertheless, just because a character is an ass it doesn't mean they weren't well written. Holden, as annoying as he is, has one of the most strongest and immaculate narrative perspectives in all of literature, the style of writing was revolutionary, and, again, as someone who focuses on character over plot, TCITR was a masterpiece. But if we ARE going to talk about plot, man, that book lacked so much plot that it didn't even have a blurb lmao. I definitely understand where you're coming from. (However, I don't think the author was even aiming for plot, I think for him it was all about conveying themes and ideas, and ofc Holden Caulfield)

I think this is the worst book I've ever read. And I've read a lot of books! Not just because of the plot or main character (who, based on my limited reading, is not well written but a walking caricature of witless assholery) but because it's so poorly written. My first exposure was the bar scene. An audio version of the book on KZfaq had started playing after my sleep video, and as I was waking up, my exact thoughts were that I was somehow listening to really bad fanfic written by a drunk 15 year old with no literary sensibilities and no ability to discern elements of story. People might argue that this means it was written well, as it was a stream-of-consciousness from a teenager in an institution, but I disagree. It was just not crafted well. Something so poorly written could have been a short story--an experiment on being inside the mind of such a character, and thus exempt from literary and narrative integrity. That might have been a better suited medium here. But because the story is written in first person, the character's inane repetitiveness,vitriolic cyclical thinking, and inability to engage with the world in meaningful or coherent ways leaves us without any kind of narrative refinement and does not work well for a full-length book. I, as a reader, feel I deserve more from an author than misogynistic stream of consciousness. That being said, my judgment is based off portions rather than a full reading. What I did experience was bad enough that I couldn't even process it at face value. 😂 The only explanation my waking mind could conjure for his behavior in the bar was that I must be listening to a Sci-Fi story, and the current chapter must be where we get a first-person window into the villain's narrative. The villain must be an old, twisted, incoherent misogynist who had been transplanted into the body of a 12 year old and was trying to get up to his old tricks with zero self-awareness about his body transplant or the world and people around him. I actually think my version would make a better book lol. The fact that this is required reading helps me to understand a little better why we are where we are as a society

One word.........goddamn

And I thought I was the only one who hated it or that I just didn't get it because of the language barrier.

This definitely is my favourite book of all time, I really enjoyed it. I do see where you are coming from when you talk about his negative qualities, however one of the things that makes me like this so much is the way he perceives Phoebe and just the way he treats her. And the scene where he is watching Phoebe on the carousel kiLlS mE, iT rEaLLy dOEs. So good.

I just read the book and I hated it. It made me so uncomfortable as a woman and it's so boring. I liked that he cares about his younger sister because this is actually cute, but other than that Holden is a terrible person.

he's not an asshole for no reason though. he's traumatised lmfao

Words cannot express how much I hate this book and what it has put me through.

This is not my favorite book by any means, I too read this when I was younger and kind of liked his FU attitude towards everyone and everything not really picking up on some deeper hidden meanings in the book. I've since reread the book at a much older age and have totally different impression of the book. I hated Holden, couldn't stand him, just wanted to smack him in the head . However remember he's just a kid and society was really different back then (for what its worth). If you do ever reread this later on in life, try to see him through the lense of a kid going through a serious mental health crisis, his fear of the future, fear of growing up, dealing with death and loss, fear of change, depresion. constant lying about himself because of his self worth. There really isn't a plot but that didn't really bother me its totally character driven, just a story about a scared messed up kid. I think JDS prose is great, but not one of my favorite books but didn't hate it.

Thank God. Somebody being honest. Not a good book at all. Just overuses the term Goddamn. Dated boring and I don't give a good Goddamn about it!!! Thanks. LOL

I am a little over halfway through the book. I'm 42, and put off reading the book for a long time. I don't hate the book, but I have been asking myself, what is the book about, on the whole? The only conclusion I have been able to come to, is that the point of the book is to showcase the utter foolishness of youth. Holden both thinks he knows it all, yet knows he doesn't. He perceptively dissects peoples flaws, and even admits his, yet his moral compass is broken. He doesn't have any real issues with Jesus, but despises the disciples. The irony being as he criticizes them for their failures while Jesus was alive, it mirrors his own failure - his rejection of truth, being that he is such a great liar, yet he struggles with that very knowledge of himself. Peter denied he knew the Lord Three times, yet Jesus forgave him, and after the Resurrection Peter received the Holy Spirit and served the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully. I think this speech was ALOT more important than it's given credit for. Salinger was a decorated WWII veteran and knew something of honor, courage, and truth. Three other things stand out to me. His red hat, the repeated mention of the novel "The Return of the Native" by Thomas Hardy, and his constant use of the irreligious "godamn" all have a much deeper significance. His red hat may be symbolic of his being a red headed step-child - someone unwanted, and mistreated. It may also be symbolic of the Devil, every time he turns the hat 180 degrees as Satan does the reverse of what is right, and is often depicted as a red devil, as well as a lion hunting his prey. I'm writing this on the fly at work, but to summarize, I think the THREE keys to understanding this book are: 1. The New Testament 2. The Return of the Native 3. WWII. So from the beginning of the post I guess this was a thought experiment. Your video sparked my curiosity to look deeper. If any of this is accurate, it would make the book a work of genius, as the deeper meaning is literally under the surface - like fish under ice in a pond.

This book is in my top 5. If you have ever been depressed or frustrated with the world, you can identify with Holden. His narration in first person is hilarious for those that get his thinking. I can see how if you don’t understand Holden, it is boring af. Holden is uninteresting, dumb, and a fail, but that is what makes it a great read for those who get it.