THE CATCHER FALLS

<-- That's what my edition of "Catcher in the Rye" looked like back in the day. It was an older edition that I found on a book shelf at my parents' house - I think it was given to my brother at some point and he left it there. The book was on my reading list for my freshman year literature class because it is an American classic. I was 17 years old and loved it at first read. I read it for the second time this year for my book club. During our book discussion, someone said (and I whole heartedly agreed) that reading Catcher again, x-amount of years later, they found it even funnier this time around. Maybe because I am much older and even further away from the age of Holden Caulfield - but I found the narrative even wittier than when I first read it.

Below is a passage that made me laugh out loud when I first read it:


That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write "Fuck you" right under your nose. I think, even, if I ever die, and they stick me in a cemetery, and I have a tombstone and all, it'll say "Holden Caulfield" on it, and then what year I was born and what year I died, and then right under that it'll say "Fuck you." I'm positive.



And I liked this passage quite a lot:

"Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them - if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry."- J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Ch. 24


God Speed, JD Salinger.