Does anybody else hate The Catcher in the Rye?

[wavve-creator]

Read it after I dropped out of my first start up job. I hated it because it was too similar to how my shadow presents itself - like a wounded animal reaching for human connection. I also once got a hooker and talked to her so much she got bored, didn't even fuck. Very relatable.

I dis-liked it because I realized that the actions this man takes are hard to achieve by much of today's youth. He almost had a BETTER path to enlightenment than most do today because of economic faults and regulatory laws (no more hookers that dont look like elton john).

FYI: My hooker looked more like a Japanese Danny DeVito than an Elton John

 

[Some_porcupine]

book got point
character was me fr (love-hating it, felt understood - versus predictability of people like "us" character and me-people)
problem being, exactly that. i was destroyed. i hated myself for that, the edginess, how all of it fits together...

idk, it is modern man vs world lost in past - or rather, "old salad" (/thread) vs world that is "what it aint used to be"
he tries to live, but cant, because he dont let others help him, others to reach to him, himself to make friends... because as some poseurs here, and with me, - got IT NOT in them, and are simly "too good" for "others" - in fear to make mistakes???... (the premise of book)

 

[Guimus12]

book got point
character was me fr (love-hating it, felt understood - versus predictability of people like "us" character and me-people)
problem being, exactly that. i was destroyed. i hated myself for that, the edginess, how all of it fits together...

idk, it is modern man vs world lost in past - or rather, "old salad" (/thread) vs world that is "what it aint used to be"
he tries to live, but cant, because he dont let others help him, others to reach to him, himself to make friends... because as some poseurs here, and with me, - got IT NOT in them, and are simly "too good" for "others" - in fear to make mistakes???... (the premise of book)

So that's it, that's the only thing I'm getting out of this thread. That the book resonates with people who used to be edgy teens. I guess that's it.

 

[Atunlimon]

You are Holden Caulfied, that's why you hate it. And that's fine.

 

[Psychotronics]

I think it's a book you need to read at a certain age, somewhere between 13 and 17. I read it at, I think, 19 and it was fine, I felt like maybe if I had read it younger I would've connected to it in a different way.

 

[Caspar]

Tl;dr: The book is relatable to young male teens and men who can still relate to once being a cringy antisocial teenager themselves.
This is my personal interpretation of the book, if anyone here disagrees or wants to add anything, I'm open to replies.

I read it as a teenager, but still didn't care for the book. Unlike OP, I am born-and-raised American. Holden, then as now, seemed to me utterly lacking in any sense of social responsibility or self-awareness. As OP also thought, I found him pretentious and unrelatable.

You are Holden Caulfied, that's why you hate it. And that's fine.

No, I'm not - nor is OP as far as I can see. The assumption of projection is trite. Find a more original take.

I think it's just more degenerate midcentury American fiction masquerading as a classic.

 

[lain is here]

My grandma told me she had read it three times and she didn't understand why people liked it. So she asked me to read it to see if I could understand why. I forced myself through it and honestly is just so bad. It dosen't happen anything in this book. Why Jhon Lennon had to die because of this book? If I had to kill someone for reading this book it would be myself out of pure boredom.
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I never understood people who said they hated the book. But if you and your grandmother are of the same opinion maybe it's a genetic thing

 

[Wandrer]

We had to read it in Canada too when I was going through high school in mid 2000s. I didn't care for it. I didn't hate it, just didn't understand what the big deal was.

Margaret Atwood, now that's an author I hate, because of being forced to read her stuff all through high school. Same as basketball lol after being forced to play it pretty much every gym class, I can't stand it anymore

 

[nsequeira119]

Absolutely, The Catcher In the Rye is one of the most overrated books ever made. I was forced to read it in high school and I was extremely bored the whole time. All the conflict in the book is completely preventable because Holden goes out into the freezing weather and get pneumonia, and then whines about getting pneumonia, and that's basically the only problem he faces because his parents are loaded and they;ve sent him to an expensive prep school. And to add onto that, he's a Homophobe because he assumes his teacher is gay when his teacher tries to apply a damp cloth to his forehead. Completely annoying character, even though I was 15 or so at the time, I couldn't relate to him at all and none of his supposedly deep observations resonated with me. I don't even think modern teenagers relate to him, it's just assumed by default that's the intended audience for the book. There are so many dated references and stuff that I don't think anyone would relate to it except Wally Cleaver, and if anyone today does relate to it something is seriously wrong with their worldview.

For a decade like the 1950s that produced some of the greatest texts on suppressed Homosexual urges and segregation and women's liberation, it's a shame that this schlock is required reading in most high schools. What an embarrassment.

 

[cyphernoir42]

I remember liking it when I read it in middle school. Haven't reread it ever since, so I might give it another read and see how my perception has changed.

 

[cone]

I liked it. I remember being forced to read it in school and I didn't usually read the books that we were assigned; usually just listening to the in-class discussions I could piece together what had happened and pass the quiz or test. But for some reason, I read a few pages of this book and I was sucked in. Mind you, I was probably pretty close to Holden's age. It was like he was in my head, I related so much to his gripes about phonies and people changing it up in front of the hoes, etc. Then I read online that Holden is a huge pussy and everyone hates him irl - what a shock that was. I had an instant realization: wait, maybe people think I am also a whiny baby? I spent a lot of the next few days just reading analyses of the book and why people dunk on Holden, digesting every piece through the lens of "is there anything they're describing that I do?"

 

[Some_porcupine]

I liked it. I remember being forced to read it in school and I didn't usually read the books that we were assigned; usually just listening to the in-class discussions I could piece together what had happened and pass the quiz or test. But for some reason, I read a few pages of this book and I was sucked in. Mind you, I was probably pretty close to Holden's age. It was like he was in my head, I related so much to his gripes about phonies and people changing it up in front of the hoes, etc. Then I read online that Holden is a huge pussy and everyone hates him irl - what a shock that was. I had an instant realization: wait, maybe people think I am also a whiny baby? I spent a lot of the next few days just reading analyses of the book and why people dunk on Holden, digesting every piece through the lens of "is there anything they're describing that I do?"

it is kinda similar to Evangelion to me then; Shinji too can be shown to behave like Holden, isnt he?