Catcher in the Rye - Page 3

Hidayat · 11-30-2009, 01:09 PM

Hello people, I'm new here and I joined this forum in order to stop playing video-games and do something more productive :P. Well, I have read this book over the summer, for it was required by the AP Lit course, and we're going to be discussing it soon. However, I fail to recognise the genius in the Catcher in the Rye. To me, it is at best a simple story about a 12 (not sure) year old, but nothing more. Can someone explain to me why exactly is this considered a masterpiece?

Bombadillo · 12-04-2009, 11:09 AM

Welcome to Entmoot, Hidayat! You can probably find your answer in the past posts in this thread. Catcher in the Rye's classic status is due to the effect it's had on so many people in Holden's very impressionable, very insecure age group. No other book came close in terms of impact. If you didn't think it was all that good, then damn, good for you. I guess you don't have the same issues that Holden does. Not the overly sensitive, what-will-people-think-of-me type huh? But a lot of kids your age do, maybe most of them, and that's why they teach it in high schools.

***Jonathan*** · 01-30-2010, 05:32 AM

JD Salinger dies, aged 91

Thank you for this great novel.
I feel maybe it's time for me to read the book again

GrayMouser · 01-31-2010, 06:14 AM

Count me with Earniel- I hated it.

Read it when I was 15 in 1969; at that time i was very involved in left-wing politics, so my major impression was "spoiled whiny overprivileged brat'.

OTOH, I very much liked Franny and Zooey. Maybe I'll give it another whirl now that I'm no longer reflexively judgemental (Okay, not quite so reflexively judgemental)

Interesting that he'd said he'd kept writing for himself over the years; could be a mass of stuff to come out, depending on his executors.

And of course Hollywood is slavering over the movie rights- he'd refused them to everybody over the years. Good luck on that.

Comic Book Guy · 07-08-2010, 01:17 PM

Loved this book. Thought it was a lot more subtle that people seem to give it credit for, as no one, fans and critics included, ever mentions the understated grief Holden had for his dead brother. It was more than mere alienation, confusion and unhappiness that's behind his "anti-social" behaviour. Plus it's an interesting look at New York public school life, not being American I found it a unique and fresh culture in my mind, despite knowing the book is set in the early 1960s.

12-04-2009, 11:09 AM	#42
Bombadillo "The Bomb" Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: all over the place Posts: 1,601	Welcome to Entmoot, Hidayat! You can probably find your answer in the past posts in this thread. Catcher in the Rye's classic status is due to the effect it's had on so many people in Holden's very impressionable, very insecure age group. No other book came close in terms of impact. If you didn't think it was all that good, then damn, good for you. I guess you don't have the same issues that Holden does. Not the overly sensitive, what-will-people-think-of-me type huh? But a lot of kids your age do, maybe most of them, and that's why they teach it in high schools. __________________ Could it be that one path to enlightenment leads through insanity?

01-30-2010, 05:32 AM	#43
*Jonathan* Entmoot Attorney-General, Equilibrating the Scales of Justice, Administrator ♎ Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 3,891	JD Salinger dies, aged 91 Thank you for this great novel. I feel maybe it's time for me to read the book again __________________ An unwritten post is a delightful universe of infinite possibilities. Set down one word, however, and it immediately becomes earthbound. Set down one sentence and it’s halfway to being just like every other bloody entry that’s ever been written. ☻

01-31-2010, 06:14 AM	#44
GrayMouser Elf Lord Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Ilha Formosa Posts: 2,068	Count me with Earniel- I hated it. Read it when I was 15 in 1969; at that time i was very involved in left-wing politics, so my major impression was "spoiled whiny overprivileged brat'. OTOH, I very much liked Franny and Zooey. Maybe I'll give it another whirl now that I'm no longer reflexively judgemental (Okay, not quite so reflexively judgemental) Interesting that he'd said he'd kept writing for himself over the years; could be a mass of stuff to come out, depending on his executors. And of course Hollywood is slavering over the movie rights- he'd refused them to everybody over the years. Good luck on that. __________________ Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep. Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them? "I like pigs. Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us, but pigs treat us as equals."- Winston Churchill

11-30-2009, 01:09 PM	#41
Hidayat Sapling Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 2	Hello people, I'm new here and I joined this forum in order to stop playing video-games and do something more productive :P. Well, I have read this book over the summer, for it was required by the AP Lit course, and we're going to be discussing it soon. However, I fail to recognise the genius in the Catcher in the Rye. To me, it is at best a simple story about a 12 (not sure) year old, but nothing more. Can someone explain to me why exactly is this considered a masterpiece?

07-08-2010, 01:17 PM	#45
Comic Book Guy Best Ex-Administrator ever Join Date: May 2001 Location: Ireland Posts: 60,547	Loved this book. Thought it was a lot more subtle that people seem to give it credit for, as no one, fans and critics included, ever mentions the understated grief Holden had for his dead brother. It was more than mere alienation, confusion and unhappiness that's behind his "anti-social" behaviour. Plus it's an interesting look at New York public school life, not being American I found it a unique and fresh culture in my mind, despite knowing the book is set in the early 1960s.