Another Book Review? Book Review: Catcher in the Rye

“I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice.” 

 

I was in IB in high school, and I was homeschooled in junior high.  So, a lot of the books that people read for English in high school and junior high-- let's just say that I read different things, okay?  Not many people  have read Labyrinths by Borges, though.

Anyways, because of that, I have a gradual goal to read all the books other people read that I never got to.  And yesterday, I didn't feel like a million bucks, so I kind of sat on the coach most of the day.  And I kind of read all of Catcher in the Rye. 





So, maybe it's because I don't have to read them for school, but a lot of the books people read in high school and hated, I end up really liking.  Catcher in the Rye isn't an exception.  I genuinely liked it.

Holden Caulfield has been to multiple prep schools, and doesn't stay at any very long.  Mostly because he usually flunks out.  Not because he's stupid or anything, just because he doesn't care.  He has no ambitions, no direction.  He doesn't hate anyone or anything, but he doesn't like anyone or anything either.  And so, after being kicked out of yet another school, he decides that there's no point in staying until Christmas if he's getting kicked out anyways, so he runs away.  What ensues is a few nights in NYC of no ambitions or directions.  Because the only thing he wants to be is a catcher in the rye--someone who is lost themselves, but saves everyone else.

There are a lot of things about Holden, but the center of his soul is that he is kind.  He genuinely cares about people, and people who don't, bother him on a very base level.  He deeply respects people who are genuinely nice, and don't listen to the rules of "grand" and "swell."  And he knows people, and who they are, and he loves people for who they are.  He cares about things like someone putting all the kinged checkers in the back row, just because they look nice (if you don't get the reference, read it).

You have to learn to just ignore the dangs and goshes and hecks.  That's probably why it's on a boat-load of banned lists. But the kid with no direction may just give you direction.

Four stars for this hated high-school classic.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Over-analyzing Disney Movies: The Little Mermaid--Why Eric is White.

Image
I have recently noticed a trend of just purely over-analyzing Disney movies.  In this category, I also include the fascination with photoshopping Disney characters to swap genders, races, or eras, as well as making princesses have "realistic" body shapes (which is something I could write a whole other post about, and it wouldn't be pretty.  Spoiler alert:  I find it to be one of the most unempowering trends of recent years).  However, I sometimes wonder at how much people are reading into Disney movies.  Today, I'm going to over-analyze their over-analysis. I recently read that the fact that Eric is a white prince is a representation of how we white-wash racial expectations for our children.  I'm not even sure what that sentence means.  It seems to have a lot of buzz words.  But I'm going to show you today, using evidence from the film, why Prince Eric is, in fact, the correct color. (I will, however, say that Eric is the only Disney prince who legitimatel
Read more

Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!

James Joyce is my kind of guy. He made puzzles that I like to think are just for me. He was a great lover of languages, and he is sometimes called the father of a literary technique called polyglotism. This is when you insert other languages in there. Just 'cuz. So, in James Joyce's wonderful story, "Eveline" there is a phrase that nobody knows what it is. Even to this day. "Derevaun Seraun! Derevaun Seraun!" Many people believe it to be corrupted Irish Gaelic. Needing a break from homework, I have approached this by taking the words and then transliterating them into Irish Gaelic, trying to create Irish Gaelic that would be spoken by someone of this status in this time in Ireland. Nationalist, but not educated enough to actually understand all the ins and outs of the language. I came up with two possible phrases that I find very probable. And I'm not pretending to solve the mystery. If Joyce experts over the years have not discovered the mean
Read more

What does it mean to be a Russell?

Image
As many know, most European families (not all, but most) have a coat of arms, a crest, a motto, all that good stuff. So, I decided to look a bit into what being a Russell means. And maybe I'll do the same for Hatches, because I am a Hatch too. The last name Russell is Scottish and means "Red-headed" and derives from the Norman name of Roussel. The Russells are a well-respected Highland Scot clan, complete with Scottish crest and tartan: The motto on the crest "virtus sine macula" means "Virtue without blemish." As Scotland incorporated more and more into England, the Russells became nobility in that world as well, and were thus presented with a coat of arms: And yes, the motto written on that one is "che sara sara." You've got to admit, that's pretty gosh-darn cool. It really does mean "Whatever will be, will be." And in honor of that:
Read more