Friday, July 16, 2010

The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger


So, I read a quick paragraph on Wikipedia about this book, and part of it said, "...it was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.". 

What???

This was by far one of the worst books I have ever read.  Ever.  And I've even read Lord of the Flies.

Wasn't this book supposedly banned once? I can guess why - some of my brain cells jumped ship as I forced my way through it.  They didn't want to add to society's decline in intelligence by exposing its future generations to this book.  Seriously, after reading this, it makes me want to write a book because apparently they'll publish anything these days.

The whole time I was reading it, I kept waiting for this major plot or climax to appear.  The way the author has the guy telling the story talk, it seems like he's always building up to something.  But it never builds up to anything.  Nothing.  It was the most pointless, plotless book I've ever read.

This whole time, this guy who's telling the story, is telling about a period of several days from the point he finds out he's been kicked out of school to the day he decides to go home.  He leaves school, spends a few days in New York, gets drunk a time or two, runs into people he knows, meets up with his sister, then it ends.  That's it.  I'd seriously like to know what the big deal is about this book.  There's swearing all over the place (Normally, I put down a book that has this much swearing without finishing it, but I wanted to say I've read this book.  So not worth it, let me tell ya.), there's a lot of talk about sex but nothing too detailed (thank goodness), and he keeps digressing from the point he's trying to make.  It's funny, he even makes a point to say how the main character likes it when people digress.

If you want waste your time BIG time, read it.  If you want to take my word for it that it's lame, by all means, do yourself a favor and go with this option.

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