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A review by favvn
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is still not my favorite Salinger (I am a Franny & Zooey Supremacist, it must be said). I read it once in high school, not for assigned reading because my school was Quirky and Not Like the Others and I was on my "Let's read all the banned books for funsies!" kick, but mostly forgot a lot of it. Cue my surprise to watch the Salinger documentary and see all the gushing about, "it changed my life!"
It's not my favorite Salinger but his writing and set up of the story truly makes me want to sonic scream. "I don't even like to talk about it," Holden says, as he casually delivers devastating information within the next paragraph. He spends most of the book saying he'll call his old friend and neighbor, he goes into phone booth after phone booth, but he never calls her, the one other character who would understand what he won't talk about. The whole book is set up in a frame narrative so Holden does, in fact, talk about it! But not explicitly, he talks around it, the elephant in the text. And we, the reader, are supposed to be fine with this.
Holden spends a weekend playacting as an adult around NYC meanwhile most adults call him on his bluff. Despite his height, his graying hair, his rough voice, all these physical signposts of old age, he's still a kid! He's still a kid but it happened to him anyways!
But all of that aside, holy guacamole do you need to check your feminism at the door when cracking open a Salinger. I don't know what I enjoyed more, Holden's ranting to Sally about running away to get married and live in the middle of nowhere sounding like dialogue from Jimmy Stewart in a Frank Capra film (irony!) or that Holden doesn't bother to see how bleak a future that would be for Sally--a few years of college just to marry and have kids out in the countryside with only Holden for a companion (or that this mirrors the life of Claire Douglas, Salinger's third wife). Betty Friedan, take the wheel.
It's not my favorite Salinger but his writing and set up of the story truly makes me want to sonic scream. "I don't even like to talk about it," Holden says, as he casually delivers devastating information within the next paragraph. He spends most of the book saying he'll call his old friend and neighbor, he goes into phone booth after phone booth, but he never calls her, the one other character who would understand what he won't talk about. The whole book is set up in a frame narrative so Holden does, in fact, talk about it! But not explicitly, he talks around it, the elephant in the text. And we, the reader, are supposed to be fine with this.
Holden spends a weekend playacting as an adult around NYC meanwhile most adults call him on his bluff. Despite his height, his graying hair, his rough voice, all these physical signposts of old age, he's still a kid! He's still a kid but it happened to him anyways!
But all of that aside, holy guacamole do you need to check your feminism at the door when cracking open a Salinger. I don't know what I enjoyed more, Holden's ranting to Sally about running away to get married and live in the middle of nowhere sounding like dialogue from Jimmy Stewart in a Frank Capra film (irony!) or that Holden doesn't bother to see how bleak a future that would be for Sally--a few years of college just to marry and have kids out in the countryside with only Holden for a companion (or that this mirrors the life of Claire Douglas, Salinger's third wife). Betty Friedan, take the wheel.