I found him relatable and sympathetic. He's a young man who doesn't know what direction he wants life to take him, he's not dumb and has some talent for writing but he just can't find the passion for anything. I relate to that, I'm a fair bit older than him and I still feel like I don't know what I want to do with my life. He is also still struggling to accept the death of his brother, Allie. He still talks to Allie, and thinks about him constantly, and this obviously informs a lot of his actions and general views on the world. Even his little sister tells him to accept that Allie is dead, and it's obvious that it's very trying on everybody, but it's hard not to feel sympathy for someone struggling with the loss of a loved one, even if they behave badly because of it.CoCage said:I've forgotten about those small details (which proves my point about the ass kicking), because I have not read that book since I was 15 (I vowed never to read it again). He's a jerk sue in the we're supposed to find him relatable and sympathetic. When he's neither. Not mention shitheads like him are a dime dozen on the Internet. You could find guys/gals like that on the imdb forums, GameFAQs, here, and reddit.
Frankly, he's just such a well realized character. He feels like a real person. He's impulsive, and immature, he probably talks too much, but he's lonely and always seems to be asking everybody he meets to have a drink with him, including the cab driver. He's young and inexperienced with romance and sex. He hires a prostitute because the elevator man offers, but then gets nervous and just spends the whole time talking to her. He frequently thinks of calling ol' Jane Gallagher, who he had a crush on when they were kids, but keeps putting it off whenever he gets to a phone. He doesn't like the fakeness that is required by our day to day lives in society. But despite his complaints about people he doesn't like people being left out because they are ugly or annoying, at one point insisting that Ackley be allowed to go out with his group even though he doesn't really like him too much. I could go on and on. There aren't many works of fiction where a character has so much personality packed into them.
Maybe I feel different that some other people here because I listened to the audiobook read by Ray Hagan.
Ray's delivery is just so casual and earnest, I can't help laughing out loud just at Holden's rambling way of talking. It's just so perfect, and I'm smiling listening to it while writing this post.