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maryoliverstan 's review for:
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
if nothing else, this is a hilariously accurate depiction of literally every 15 year old boy who thinks everything is cringe, and has the same realizations that girls had at like 8 years old. it’s funny how this holds up (“cringe” is the new “phony”.) the unique narrative voice is very obviously the focus here, which is fine for a while. the problem is just that he basically says the same thing over and over…it gets very repetitive after a while, with very little plot to break it up. i mean literally he’s just kinda walking around nyc, having thoughts and occasional conversation. i can appreciate a good plotless book but it’s not completely well executed here.
i think huge fans of this book are often young (or read the book young, which is common bcs this is typical school-assigned reading.) this is a problem bcs holden’s worldview is…naïve, annoying, sometimes problematic. paradoxically, i both wish i read this when i was younger, and feel glad that i didn’t. i would’ve enjoyed this much more had i been younger and more able to relate to holden. but that would mean id have understood the work less—to truly relate to holden would mean looking past his unreliable narration and distorted way of viewing things. maybe this is a book best read when young, then reread a few years later? idk.
all of this to say: i think there’s a lot about this that works, which is what earns it a 3 star rating for me. i’m just also not the biggest fan. honestly, even if i ignored my genuine critiques of this…the main issue is simply that was bored, and that’s enough
i think huge fans of this book are often young (or read the book young, which is common bcs this is typical school-assigned reading.) this is a problem bcs holden’s worldview is…naïve, annoying, sometimes problematic. paradoxically, i both wish i read this when i was younger, and feel glad that i didn’t. i would’ve enjoyed this much more had i been younger and more able to relate to holden. but that would mean id have understood the work less—to truly relate to holden would mean looking past his unreliable narration and distorted way of viewing things. maybe this is a book best read when young, then reread a few years later? idk.
all of this to say: i think there’s a lot about this that works, which is what earns it a 3 star rating for me. i’m just also not the biggest fan. honestly, even if i ignored my genuine critiques of this…the main issue is simply that was bored, and that’s enough