Catcher in the Rye (J D Salinger) — Uncanny!

Over and done with Holden Caulfield, the lead protagonist of the so called best seller during the sixties in America. This odd book instigates a lot of questions.

Right after flipping the first page, I lost interest in this book. Despite that, funny me keep desperately rummaging through the remaining 300 pages, tossing and turning, disturbed by the uncanny behavior of the protagonist. It was ‘hope’ that made me lurk around till the last word. ‘Hope’ that Holden will appreciate something in his life. He too would discover his passion, love and harmony. Eventually I gave up declaring it to be JD’s style. I was bothered with the excessive negativity through out the book, with Holden abusing his room mates, the university, the faculty, the New Yorkers, the Hookers (of course!) etc., etc., with demeaning words from his careless dictionary such as goddamn, phoney et al. He finds the reality of everyone to be dubious. A bit like Howard Roark, only I feel he was a true optimist, inspirational and constructive, whereas, this guy is abysmal.

I had become so antiNY city — for the kind of youth upbringing it is fostering. And just when I thought I was through with this volume of torture and was never recommending it to my happy friends, I realized that the book had shaped up way back in 1951, post WWII scenario, when life was very dull and murky for most Americans, attributed to the Pearl Harbor bombardment. Their loved ones were being sent to the war front as soldiers. Many soulful young lives were lost and the survivors who did manage to return back home were in a state of lull. They simply weren’t able to fine-tune themselves again with the common lifestyle, after witnessing the extremes of butcheries and vandalism. For this mere reason, this book got introduced into the school curriculum, teaching the young ones the much needed perspective correction and a control on their aggression.

One definitely does wonder, “What’s with the title?”. These are the sweeter sections of this otherwise harsh book. “Holden tells a story to his kid sister towards the end of the book about his dream to stand at the edge of the cliff and catch the children playing around in the rye, who might mistakenly get drifted down the heights. To which the kid sister replies, “Dad will kill you!” J”. For Holden, Phoebe is the only living soul that truly matter or makes the difference. The only reality he believes in, and would do anything for. I like the way the young girl has been characterized and how she stabilizes his mad ol’ brother.

Leaving a lot of questions unsaid and unanswered…

I wouldn’t recommend the book if you were looking for a light fun read. But in any case, if your idea of reading is to challenge the idle mind, this is it…Enjoy!