The Catcher in the Rye. Post 8. (the final post ever!)

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

My overall impression of this book would have to be summed up in one phrase: confused and intrigued. This book has a very unique writing technique that was very casual and difficult to get used to. That, coupled with the hard to discover mission of the work made the book hard to read through. The story was certainly interesting. It was a great story that had some interesting first person perspective style. It really was. Would I read it again or recommend it to a friend? I hope I don't have to read this book again, and, no, I don't think that I would recommend this book to a friend because of two reasons. First, the book is not exactly the most engaging or thrilling book. Sure, Holden goes on adventures and does things he is not supposed to do, but the lack of organization and the constantly skewing thought process of the speaker made it hard to follow while reading. Second, this book did not follow the traditional bell curve structure. By that I mean that it did not have a distinguishable rising action, climax, falling action, or resolution. I just don't think that this book appeals to people looking for a read that will grab their attention, keep it while introducing new and exciting elements, and then ending with an understandable resolution. Primarily because this book does not exactly do much of any of that.

While I enjoyed reading this novel, it felt like I was reading the journal or the memoirs of a person that was realizing their descent into madness. Not the most engaging prospect. Granted the end message was rather valuable to me. What I took from this work is that we should never be afraid or upset about becoming an adult because no matter what we do to prolong that occurrence, we can never truly avoid that reality.

"It's funny. Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody" (Salinger, 214).