Yesterday I finished the class coming-of-age novel, The Catcher in the Rye. I started this book thinking that I would love it but, while there is no denying it is an excellent book, I couldn't help but feel disappointed in the characters and the lack of a profound or pivotal moment.
While reading The Catcher in the Rye, I had quite a bit of trouble figuring out the purpose of the book. The entire novel is about this one cynical 17-year-old wandering through New York City, switching between feeling horribly depressed and accusing everything and everyone of being "phony." What's the point? When I read I book, I want to gain something from it - new ideas, knowledge, an appreciation for something new, etc. I really don't feel that I gained much from The Catcher in the Rye, aside from a bunch of new ways to use "goddamn" in a sentence.
I didn't find many of the characters likeable, either. Holden himself, although occasionally funny, I found to be whiny and depressing. I felt that he had too much in common with a large proportion of the fussy 14-year-old boys I know. The other students at Pencey sounded like prats, at least from the way Holden described them. The only character I really enjoyed reading about was Holden's little sister, Phoebe.
The setting didn't add anything special to the story, in my opinion: New York City is amazing, huge and bustling, nitty-gritty and sometimes gross, but also gorgeous. The way it was described in the book, though, it could have been any other big city. Holden could easily have been in Chicago, or Los Angeles, or Washington D.C. There was no fascinating or scenic imagery that caught my attention.
Those are just my major thoughts about The Catcher in the Rye, completely disorganized and, I must admit, unedited. Next I'm reading The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and I'll post my thoughts about the book every few chapters.
