Catcher in the Rye

Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger   240 pages

A copy of this literary classic has been languishing on my shelf for years, so that’s why I chose it as my July read for my 2018 Reading Resolution (I picked 12 books to read that having been in my library for ages). Most people I know had to read this in high school, but growing up in Arkansas, we didn’t have summer reading lists.

And now I know why I’ve been putting it off for years…what a drag of a story. I realize that the story is only three days and nights in the life of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, but omg, what a whiner.

There is one consolation to this story of Holden’s New York adventures after he gets expelled from yet another prep school: teenage angst has changed since Salinger published this in 1951. The biggest difference is that instead of goddamn, teenagers today use the F-bomb and the MF word. 

And the way he called every "old [their name]," drove me up a wall.

 “Catcher in the Rye” receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.