JD Salinger

It's probably not special, nor original, nor very cool to like JD Salinger and it may betray my scant reading history and superficial literary knowledge, but I do like JD Salinger. I actually just finished reading "Raise High the Roof Beam..." for the second time and it was just as impressive as when I read it back when I was 19. What I could say about " Catcher in the Rye" could be and will be said by millions of other people but it's my blog so tough shit, here it goes.


I read a  book about a guy who is frustrated with everything, who is angry that the world isn't and will never be the way he wants it to be. He detests what he sees around him, his friends, his teachers, and himself. He turns everything outward and and when it comes back at him he feels betrayed and singled out. The only person he likes and respects is his little sister.  I read it when I was 16. How perfect is that?


He keeps bringing up day dreams of ideal worlds he could see himself living happily in. They all lack the unending pressure of interacting with others according to the arbitrary rules that we all slowly, to our disappointment and disgust , discover will govern our lives. You can't opt out and that realisation hits some of us harder than others. I still have these day dreams on a regular basis.


When my high school class read "Catcher in the Rye", everyone learned a new word: obnoxious. Holden was obnoxious. I wondered if they just felt that this was how they should react to an admittedly flawed character. I didn't admire him but I deeply understood him. Didn't they? Did they understand the book? Did they really despise this character that I felt mirrored so many of my thoughts, fears, and disappointments? If so, I was in the wrong place with the wrong people. (I would eventually, and painfully, realise that there is no right place). What was more troubling was that my identification with and defense of Holden in classroom discussions was used to mock and berate me. (though I kind of had it coming) I thought if there was anything we could all agree on is that being a teenager sucked, and none of us were happy being stuck where we were with little control or understanding of our lives. Perhaps the only thing we could bond over was turned into an insult and a joke. And much like Holden did, I reacted in an non-constructive manner (to put it mildly).


I read it again 10 years later and I cried like a baby several times. The time in my life I read it and what I went through (put my self through) in the subsequent years was brought to the surface over and over. It was exhausting. But, I may be ready to read it again. Thank you Mr.Salinger.




JD Salinger Dies at 91