<a class="postlink" href="http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9688535" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wir ... id=9688535</a> Focus: Discuss the classic author and his body of work. I personally hope we get a compendium of work published posthumously after his death. You know the guy was writing something for 50 years after he stopped publishing.
Catcher in the Rye is a phenomenal book and it's a shame every two-bit brained moron carries it around his back pocket and shoots up a school.
What? Where are you getting this? I know that the guy who killed John Lennon cited the novel as inspiration, but I've never heard any school shooter doing so. Focus- Catcher in the Rye was a true masterpiece in every way, and it never ceases to amuse me how much people read into the work that isn't actually there. I've heard everything from Holden was gay to he was suicidal, etc.
I have to disagree. Sorry, everyone, but to me this book was like The Great Gatsby: lots of talk and hype, did not deliver. Holden Caufield was annoying, because he claimed to hate 'fakeness' in people, and yet he was the fakest one of all. Sorry to hear that a great author has died, but I never cared for that book.
That's the point my dear. Holden is a complete dickhead. He's judgmental and narrowminded, he's stupid but thinks he's a genius. He wants to save everyone, but from what? Holden is one of the best characters ever written in my opinion.
According to his daughter, he has filing cabinets full of works in progress, some of which are marked to be published as is, others with editing. So it's definitely possible. Personally, I found Holden so insufferable and alien that I had trouble identifying with him, and spent most of the time wanting to throw the book across the room. Maybe I'm wrong, but there's probably a certain advantage to reading the book in your adolescence versus when older, at least in terms of being able to identify or empathize with Holden I did quite like Franny and Zooey, though.
We'll have to agree to disagree, then. I appreciate the irony of the text, but I just can't understand why anyone would want to read about the exploits of a complete dickhead (unless said dickhead has amusing stories).
If we're going to talk about the work, I never viewed Holden as an asshole. He was selfish, sure, and sometimes badly misjudged others, but his actions and perspective on life were unique and entertaining. I had a very happy childhood, but could still relate to virtually every sentiment he expressed. And the thing is, all of his thoughts had at least a small kernel of truth to them. I was more impressed with the overall tone and style of CITR than Holden himself, but the character himself is excellent.
Big fan of Franny and Zooey. Remember the part where Zooey is reading his older brother Seymour's philosophical quotes on the back of his bedroom door? Well, here was 7 year old Seymour's summer reading list. Those damn Glass kid geniuses!
My friend's grandparents were pretty good friends with J.D. Salinger and they would have dinner with him generally a few times a year, it sucks he was such a recluse, I would have loved to just talk to him. By the way I live in New Hampshire and I have NEVER heard of the town he lived in before, and finally, I never read Catcher in the Rye.
Like somebody said about Carlin when he died a few years ago, every generation of kids will hit an age where he makes complete sense. Maybe not every middle school football star with shoved on confidence but there are always times where the world seems vapid and fake. I like many others read the book because you heard about it being banned from schools. I always loved the part in the story where he went ice skating with a girl he knew and she was skating in front of him to show off her little ass. That's good stuff for a teenager. I always thought a good movie could have been made out of it by having the same tone and quality of a movie like The Shawshank Redemption. With today's crop of up an coming teen stars there is no fucking way the movie would ever be good. God knows Steven Speilberg would cast fucking Shai Leoubouuuf in it.
He isn't a dickhead. Holden Caulfield is a boy who is scarred and traumatized by the death of his younger brother. Not being able to make sense of his brother's death and not having (or trusting) any adults to provide guidance or wisdom through the process of grieving Holden decides that a world/universe/holy spirit that would allow an innocent like his brother to die such a senseless death must mean that everyone who survives is less worthy and virtuous as his brother and a "phony." But if he survived then Holden must be a "phony" as well. And how exactly does a 16 year old reconcile that? The book.
Whoa there. So it's the F. Scott's fault that he writes the Great American Novel and it's hyped up like the masterpiece that it is, and you don't get it or don't connect with it so the book "didn't deliver"? What is that supposed to mean? Salinger, he was old as hell. I've read Catcher in the Rye exactly once and thought it was good, great even. Seems like he was the opposite of Vonnegut though and called it good after the 60's, so I can't say I'm too sad to hear he's dead. 91 is a hell of a long life for an old school writer. They were kind of a hard living lot back then.
I love Salinger's work. As everyone has said, Catcher in the Rye was phenomenal. I probably enjoyed his short stories even more though. Anyone read "A Girl I Knew"? Probably my favorite. Honestly though, the guy's whole body of work is incredible. I wish the world wasn't like it was and he would have continued publishing, but hopefully with his death here we'll get some shit published.
He apparently had a huge safe of written and unpublished works locked away in a safe in his house. God willing, it will be published (and let's hope that there is nothing in the will that may prevent that).
I have a confession: I've never read Catcher in the Rye. I blame it on the fact that the only time I really read when I was younger was if my TV accidentally brought up closed captioning. That said, I have an immense amount of respect for any author who can command the amount of attention from critics that Salinger has. It's not easy to write a good book that survives in the lime light for even a few years. It's even more difficult to create what some people call a literary masterpiece that's timeless and can still speak to readers despite being dated.
This probably sums up how I feel about Salinger's death best: http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/2010/0...-the-lasting-brand-of-catcher-in-the-rye.html But on a serious note, Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorite books, and I am currently reading/loving Franny and Zooey.
I wonder if the family will now sell the rights to make it into a movie. It's still banned in the NYC school system, among several others. The ignorance is astounding.