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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I deeply hated Holden to begin with and then it sunk into pity. He is pathetic, depressed, awkward boy who tries to be cool by cussing excessively and talking about sex. That said, he did say a few funny things and a couple poinient things. It's a quoteable book. "Sleep tight, ya morons!"

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reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark emotional funny sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A youth with all of the marks of clinically depressed person in dire need of a help runs away from school for New York and trying to find any human connection for two days. 
Oh, Holden. You snotty, whiny, angsty miserable idiot of a guy, with such a massive emotional pain that it hurts me to even think about it. My heart breaks for him for the entire plot.

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Based on the years of people telling me this book was terrible or it sucked, I believe it's because they didn't wrap their mind around the fact that this book is supposed to show you some form of empathy.

We're shown 3 days of 16 year-old Holden's life, and the text is trying to make you feel empathetic towards him, who is struggling with the loss of his innocence. Almost everyone can relate to that.

Salinger has a unique prose when it comes to Holden's perspective and how Holden sees the world. I think that those who dislike The Catcher in the Rye either couldn't grasp the idea of putting themselves in someone else's shoes when they read through it, or were expecting a completely different type of writing (like I said, Salinger's writing style is meant to be distant from the reader, it's what makes Holden relatable).

Holden Caufield has been treated so poorly by the 'adult world' that he is making terrible decisions to get the attentions of people who couldn't care less about his well-being. I think that's where the message gets blurred, and what leads to those poor reviews of the text.

Overall I think that The Catcher in the Rye is a wonderfully written novel, coming from a 19 year-old who never read it in high school (where/when most people read this book). If you're in the mood to reflect on a fictional character's life instead of worrying about the action that is happening, this would be a perfect read for you.

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adventurous reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

For this being a book i read for a school research paper i thoroughly enjoyed it. while at times i was a little bored hearing about random people Holden knew and brought up, i think that in retrospect everything made sense. at first i didn’t understand or even like Holden, but that honestly changed by the end of the book, which was super sweet. this book deals a lot with growing up and the difficult/ scary transition between childhood and adulthood and a lot of Holden just trying to find his place in the world. I’d definitely recommend. 

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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