I'm reading Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, and I've been reading it without end for the past 2 weeks or so... the characters and the storyline are just not compelling enough for me to finish reading it in one night. Usually, with any assortment of SF or thriller novels, I'd finish them in days.
At first, how Holden Caulfield, comments on his life and those around him, and how he views everything in life, was somehow that maybe most of us could identify with, going along through the story, I can't help but think that this kid has no clue about what life is really about. Why there is school. Why you should save money. Why you should generally be nice to people.
Maybe it's my age; if I read the book way in high school, maybe I would of identified with it more. I guess now my priorities, my ideals, have changed, have traversed to values that in many views may be called as 'mature'. The striking thing about Holden is he tends to do everything without even considering consequence. As in his vernacular, "That kills me".
Otherwise, the book is an interesting window to the vernacular of the era, a window of the cultural background and habits of those people. I still want to finish the book, although Holden is frustrating me by the minute, just to see if he wises up a bit somehow. No spoilers, please. And... this could take me another week or so.
One last thing... he refers to almost everybody over his age as "phonies". I'm familiar with the intent of the phrase... I just can't help wondering if I would also count in that category. Nobody wants to be a phony.
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