Thread: Has Catcher in the Rye deeply affected anyone of you?

My whole childhood was so awkward, and I never fit in because I was so different then everyone else, I wan't interested in sports like football and soccar, I was interested in things like art and music. I was a mediocre student, while everyone around me would freak out when they got a A- on something. I was so different that I was isolated and considered weird and I sort of stopped being social altogether. I got depressed, and even suicidal for few years during elementary school. I didn't connect with anyone, not even my parents. I couldn't talk to anyone about the way I felt. I hated the majority of everyone. They all just seemed to be so mean, so focused on being on top. When I saw a group of friends laughing over some stupid thing, just being "silly", it would anger me. When a guy would date a girl just to run up to his friends the next day and tell them about it, it would depress me. My life was absolute hell, I felt as if the world was created for everyone but me. But I felt as if I truly had a friend (I know that sounds stupid) when I read The Catcher in the Rye for the first time in ninth grade. Holden Caulfield just hit the nail right on the head. His conception of the world was so spot on; jackasses thrive to live happy and create more jackasses, while the good ones, the ones who don't pretend to be something they're not, are looked down upon and considered "punks". Holden was left to rot in a mental instution, after about two hundred and twenty pages of explanation of why he's the only sane person around. And the story was never sugarcoated. It didn't end with something dumb like Holden finally finding the perfect girl, or finally setting things right with school and his parents. No, it was a perfect portrait of reality; things don't end on a good note. The novel completely turned my world upside down. It made me stop feeling unsatisfied and dissapointed with the "innequities" of my life, and made me feel proud of them. Proud of being different, and proud of being "weird". It made me feel not like I was better than everyone, but that that everyone was just lost and I was the only person who truly knew where I was going. The Catcher in the Rye is the only book I can truly take seriously and not consider "just a book". It's more than that to me.

I remember being forced to read this for a literature class. I know a lot of people say it was a great book, but I don't think I stopped twitching until weeks after the class was over. >.<

Agreed. It was OK in lit class. Little boring, but not as much Silas Marner and Moby Dick and that other crap.
But I've never understood all the people raving about what a great book it was. Wonder what they'd think if they read it again now.

Never got the whole Catcher in the Rye thing either. I like his short stories waaaay better.

Originally Posted by Lord Raiden

I remember being forced to read this for a literature class.

I'd suggest anyone forced to read it in college re-read it for pleasure. Your opinion may turn out to be quite different. It is actually a very good book.

Great book, but it didn't deeply affect me on any level.

I don't get the fascination with it either. Maybe, if I'd read it as an angsty teenager, I'd enjoy it more and think it meant something, but, as an adult with actual responsibilities who is trying to raise children up in the best way I know, it's kind of insulting and worthy of much eye-rolling.

If a certain Catcher fan had killed McCartney instead of Lennon, I'd probably be a bigger fan of the book.

Has Catcher in the Rye deeply affected anyone of you?

Not in the slightest.

It's an amazing book, but I don't think I can say that anything I've read has "deeply affected" me. There are a lot of things I hold as very emotional, incredible pieces of art. But I would never change my actions or lifestyle to suit them.

Originally Posted by Lord Raiden

I remember being forced to read this for a literature class. I know a lot of people say it was a great book, but I don't think I stopped twitching until weeks after the class was over. >.<

WRONG.

I'm glad you connected with it panicnight. I would never mock anyone for feeling such a feeling, I think it's great. It's the ultimate accolade to a writer. And it's inspiring to know that an author's fan base can be truly moved or affected by a piece of literature. It would probably be a far more commonplace sentiment if books were more prevalent in today's culture than television and other technologies.

I read Catcher as a leisure read, on a recommendation from a friend, before I knew anything about the insane following it has, or how ingrained it is in popular culture.
I'm glad I did too, because my fondness for it has started to decline since learning of its status.
It never meant anything to me. I just found it an entertaining short read that was worth the time, but I moved onto bigger and better things. Learning that it became something of an emo handbook for a generation of apathetic teenagers sorta makes me cringe. I need to learn to not let my opinion be swayed by external influences, I guess.


For the record the only book to really mean anything to me is On The Road.

Originally Posted by Mike C

I'd suggest anyone forced to read it in college re-read it for pleasure. Your opinion may turn out to be quite different. It is actually a very good book.

I read it for pleasure first. Then had to re-read it for university a few years later. It's pretty good, I just don't see the hype in it...

I was never an outcast at my school but had my deep (and sometimes very unfair) suspicions about my friends and classmates, considering them fake or immoral and essentially going through the stage when I believed to know all the world's dark secrets.

When I first read Catcher in the Rye, I was in that stage, and I identified with it. I read it again about four months ago, and having matured a bit from when I was 16, I am still impressed by it, not because of its ability to speak to troubled youth but because of many of the things Salinger achieves that might not be apparent on a first read-through. It's something that should be read first for pleasure, and then again for study.

That said, I do believe it is overrated to the point that it has eclipsed his other works, which are all gems themselves. I suggest you read Seymour: an Introduction, and his short story "A Perfect Day for Banana Fish."

Among others, of course.

It had a similar effect on me at a similar age, for similar reasons.

It may appear overrated now, but seen on the context of it's time, it was a major groundbreaker.

I have to agree on bananafish though, one of my all time favourite shorts. In fact his Glass family shorts collectively are superb.

Originally Posted by Dr. Malone

If a certain Catcher fan had killed McCartney instead of Lennon, I'd probably be a bigger fan of the book.

Oh come on... not a Wings fan, I suppose? (:

Catcher is just about my favorite book (although cuckoo's nest, I don't think, will ever be passed on my list). In all honesty I agree with the person who said Salinger's short stories are better. I never really identified with Holden, but I do think as far as style goes (especially dialogue) it is a freaking masterpiece. Did it deeply affect me? Hmm, not in terms of self identification. But in terms of wanting to become more serious about my writing and getting more into writing, yes, it did a lot for me. I think Salinger, although he gets a lot of credit, deserves more credit.

And bananafish is nothing short of perfect.