The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, original publication 1951, Back Bay Books Paperback edition 2010, Little Brown and Company, New York

This book, for some reason, was chosen by our men’s book club. It was interesting to go back and read it as I wasn’t sure that I had read it so long ago. I’m also reading a biography of J.D. Salinger so I have a little knowledge of him and how the book came to be written. That extra knowledge gave me an appreciation of his life and some inkling of where he was coming from when he wrote the book.

One thing I learned was how the book was received when it was first published back in 1951. It was immediately praised as a masterpiece and came to be considered one of the really great books of the twentieth century. Reading it today, I can see some of the qualities of the book, but I can’t quite get my head around its being all that great. It now seems somehow dated but I think it’s probably still relevant given the mental struggles that the youth of today are experiencing. Holden Caulfield suffered from a total lack of direction in his life which may be inflicting many of our young individuals today, although Holden didn’t seem to be contemplating suicide as seems to be the trend today. It would be interesting to hear how a young person would react to reading it today.

Holden, even though he seems to be totally lost, has some redeeming qualities. I was amazed when he held to his principles when he disputed the charge for the prostitute that was sent to his room. The easy way out would have been to just hand over the extra five dollars (which he ended up losing anyway. Instead, he chose to have himself severely beaten just because he determined that he was right and the other people were wrong. I suspect that most individuals would take the easy way out to avoid being hurt. He also showed a great deal of empathy for some others and felt sorry for them, even after excoriating them for being phonies.

It was frustrating to read because I kept wanting Holden to wake up and change his ways while, at the same time, knowing that he wasn’t going to. I’m glad I read it, but I’m not able to rate it as one of my all-time favorite books.