What I'm Reading: The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

"Where do the ducks go in the winter?" - JD Salinger

In my continued quest to read all the 'literature' I missed in high school I recently grabbed an old copy of The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. Oddly, I already had a lot of feelings about this book before delving in. For one thing, some of the authors/people I admire greatly are big fans of this book, which made me eager to see in it what they do. On the other hand, most of my peers and siblings hated reading this book in school and warned be away from it.

In the end, I found the book fascinating. I enjoyed following Holden's mind through its twists and turns. His cynicism and fondness for complaining were equal parts humorous and irritating. His teacher, Mr. Antolini, hit the nail on the head when he said "Among other things you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior."

His slow descent into madness is something I wanted to scorn and scoff at, but unfortunately I was able to relate to much of it. I wish I had read this as an angsty teenager, I'm curious what I might have gotten out of it back then. I can see all of the things that turned my friends off from the book, but I certainly don't regret reading it. It's probably not one of the ones I'll be re-reading on the regular though.

#nerd #book