Jocelyn (The Reading World)
I love to read and can get very attached to my opinions, but recently I've been learning not to completely lose my head when people disagree with me, so feel safe to argue with me whenever you wish ;)
Going to have to separate the artist from the art here. I know that Catcher was a deeply personal book to Salinger, but that doesn't change the fact that it was immensely dull to read.
In theory, this should have appealed to me, according to the vast majority of the readers who consider it an enduring classic. I looked and still look for teenage identification in books all the time. It's just that when I do, I want the notion that the entire world is a hypocritical hellhole to be disproved. What person actually desires to live with such a miserable view, I have no idea.
I know that Salinger was probably psychologically incapable of providing any sort of emotional scope, but nothing to me can excuse such an astoundingly complete lack of artistry.
