The Catcher in the Rye

In one of Five Iron Frenzy's songs, there is this line, "I sometimes feel like Holden Caulfield", and for a long time, I never really knew the reference. Later, I found out it was a Catcher in the Rye reference. This book is meant to be a classic, one of the best novels ever written, so I thought I might give it a go.

It was hooked at the beginning of the book. It is written for a first-person perspective from Holden, and I really like the voice and style; it captures well what a teenager might say and think. I laughed out loud in a few bits in the way the character would talk, but overall, I thought the book could have been shorter, for it really doesn't go anywhere. That may be the point, a little nihilistic of simply capturing a weekend of a troubled kid with no point. Some more character development or facing of consequences might have left me with more positive feelings from the book.

This story traces the weekend of a kid who is about to be kicked out of a boarding school, and his parents aren't going to find out till Wednesday. (This is all set in a time before mobile phones, smoking was more acceptable, and generally everyone seems a little nicer and less hurried.) 

So before Holden's parents find out that he is getting kicked out of another school, he skips out of school and travels to New York, where he lives, but instead of going home, he stays in a hotel. (He does sneak into his apartment to see his sister at one sta.ge). Through the weekend, he gets cabs and walks around and goes to clubs and people's places and talks to cab drivers, people in clubs, calls friends, but nothing is really pushed. Things don't work out for him, but the consequences don't seem to really cost anything. He invites a woman to his hotel room, but he is too scared to do anything, and her pimp takes twice as much money. He buys a record for his sister, but it breaks, and he gives that to her anyway. He runs low on money and visits an old teacher of his, but he turns out to be a bit pervy, so he leaves that place. But through these moments, Holdeb sort of just plods along with it all, and they don't really impact anything.

Holden hates hypocrisy and sees most people as fakers and posers. So he is trying to be true and real, and yet he boasts how good he is at lying to people; he doesn't want to face his parents about his schooling and generally is running from himself. I get the teenage angst, and how many people could relate to this. I think in this aspect, it is captured very well, but overall, after watching this very busy weekend, we are where we were before. 

One of Holden's brothers died earlier, and another kid at a previous boarding school also committed suicide, so there is lots for Holden to process, but he doesn't seem like he wants to do that. This weekend trip brings up memories, but moving on and dealing with those problems, or his unwillingness to do school work, is still a thing that Holden needs to do.

Maybe nihilism was the point. Maybe it's a reflection of us all to think about our hypocrisy, maybe it is just a marandering story and nothing more. Maybe the ambiguity of it all makes this book a success.

It reminded me of the scene in the movie Adaptation (language warning) where the main character has to adapt a story about orchards into a movie, and in his mind, nothing happens in the book. He asks a screenwriter expert, "What happens when you are trying to make a movie, and nothing happens, where people don't change, and nothing is resolved, just like the real world?", to which the expert replies, "Sounds like you will bore your audience to tears. And what do you mean, nothing happens in real life? Every day, people make decisions that affect their lives, and if nothing happens in your movie, then why are you wasting my time with that movie? I don't have any use for it." (sort of the clean version of his reply) Maybe this book is the exception to the rule. 

Maybe I was too old to appreciate the angst where nothing get resovled. Perhaps a combination of its uniqueness, combined with the cultural moment when it came out, makes this stand apart. The book had its moments, but could have been shorter.