Catcher in the Rye Review

I read this for the first time as a high school junior. I don't remember liking the book very much. All I remembered is how Holden hated phoniness, and something about a carousel, maybe.

I can't say that this is now my favorite book or anything, but I liked it more this time around. I guess the first thing is just the whole tone of the book. It's so conversational and it feels natural, not forced at all. And I relate more to Holden - he seems so lost. He's looking for something, but he doesn't know what. He only knows that the world he lives in isn't the world he really wants. He's drinking and meeting people and going out and talking, but having so much trouble connecting to them. He feels depressed so much of the time.

There's this one part where he's talking to a former teacher of his. They have maybe the most profound conversation in the book.

“But what I mean is, lots of time you don’t know what interests you most till you start talking about something that doesn’t interest you most. I mean you can’t help it sometimes.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

I like this quote because it seems true to me about life in general. You have to experiment and maybe do a lot of "wrong" things until you get to the right thing. Maybe the thing that's most important is that you start at all. You have no idea where you are or what you want? Fine, just start with one little thing. When was the last time you felt happy? What were you doing? Or try something you've never tried before. 


One more quote. Holden's talking to his younger sister Phoebe.

“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye 

 

It's beautiful and impossible and terribly, terribly sweet, don't you think? It sounds like Holden wants to help and maybe save (as much as you can save others, anyway) kids. In one alternate universe ending, maybe he'd be a school counselor or something. (I don't know how well he'd do with bureaucracy and all...but actually, I think maybe he'd be understanding with the kids.) 

 

I like that Salinger never answers the question (too easy, right?), but I'm curious nevertheless. I can see him as a temp, bouncing around from position to position, drinking and smoking and reading all the time and still searching for something, whatever it is. I can also see him as a writer, like his brother D.B. Maybe not a commercial success, but he'd be doing something he believed in. Or maybe he does leave everyone and everything he knows and goes out west to work on a ranch or something. Who do you think Holden would grow up to be? 

To getting to the things that interest you most.