Poll: Do You Like "Catcher in the Rye"?

[Prof. Monkeypox]

Wow, it's really neck and neck. I agree with the OP. In my opinion, Caulfield (my personal most hated character of all time), is so unrelatable. I know everyone was a whiny brat at that age (I was to at least some extent), but I don't know why he became this great cultural hero. He proposed no way to fix the world's problems, he just bitched about them constantly. I'm something of a cynic, but even in my whiniest of days I found Holden to be completely unlikable.

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

I loved it, but if you don't that's cool.

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

what i have noticed was that the majority of the people in the world either hate or love this book there is no real middle ground

It's quite polarizing, I agree, more than any other book I've ever seen.

Well, except for the people who said that reading it led to juvenile delinquency- those people just completely fell of the sanity radar.

 

[MBurner 93]

I have the misfortune to hear is that he (Holden Caulfield) hates:

Suitcases
Girls
His room mate
Ackley
Motels
Phonies
Sex
Standing in line at Wal-Mart (unmentioned but probably true)
His old teacher
Growing up

Vans
stairs
cops
lawyers
hospitals
doctors
the water
subways
malls
zombies
the army
Ayn Rand

...wait, my bad. Thought we were talking about Francis from L4D. "Oh my God! You hate stuff too?!?" They both hate stuff. 'Cept Francis is a badass, and Holden is a whiny *****.

 

[SimuLord]

Holden Caulfield is the original emo dickwad hipster asshole. Fuck him. That book sucked.

(I always liked Hemingway. At least his characters had good reasons for having an existential crisis. Like fighting in World War I. Salinger, on the other hand, was an annoying prat.)

 

[The Rascal King]

Call me a youngin', but I found this book boring. At every possible moment that could turn out to be eventful or interesting.Then again, my hatred could be fueled by J.D. Salinger's shit sandwich novels I had to read for school called "Franny" and "Zooey", which is about....you guessed it, whiny young people who ***** about life and relationships and suicide.

Jesus Christ

 

[Betancore]

I liked the book overall, but I just felt like telling Holden to shut the fuck up and take his antidepressants already. I guess I could relate to him, to an extent, except that if I had the opportunity to roam around the city by myself with loads of money and nothing better to do, I wouldn't be complaining so much.

 

[00slash00]

it was one of those books that i HATED while i was reading it, but after it was done, i looked back and realized what a great book it was. i mean have you ever played a game that you consider to be a fantastic game but would never play again? thats kinda how i felt about this book

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

Well, so far he bitches like every other teenager. I might need to read a bit further, but he seems like a character who'll still be a prick, but a well-developed prick. So that places him ahead of many other characters such as, but not excluding, Bella Swan, Snow Villers, Cisna from White Knight Chronicles, and Ash Crimson. So, most media, 0, J.D. Salinger, 1.

 

[open trap]

Only phonies like that book, stupid phoneis. In all honesty i hated tha book untill he

Spoiler

Turns around and see's a giant fuck you sign on the wall, twice

It still sucked though, read it for summer reading and my friend did too, big inside joke for us.

 

[mooncalf]

I liked the book, and the character is just a lens for me. I'm reading the Great Gatsby now, not bad either.

 

[dex-dex]

In grade eleven, there was a university level course and a college level course
the university read catcher in the rye and the college level got to read Carrie

yeah Carrie is a fantastic book.

 

[Tomster595]

Great book. As a high school student who recently read it, I must say that the language is kind of outdated and kind of annoying at times, but that's just because it's not the kind of slang and stuff we're used to. Overall, Holden is an interesting character and the book has a lot to say.

 

[Giest4life]

Catcher in the Rye, falls in the category of just about every other art in the world: IT GETS OLD! And once it does, it's not really art for those who don't "get it." Why? Because there is nothing more to "get." I tried reading it, but I found it boring and mundane.

 

[Jroo wuz heer]

I am dissapointed in you guys, slightly more no's than yeses? and those people that don't know what it is make me sick

 

[omega 616]

Never even heard of it, sounds like that is a good thing.

Only one person pulls off being a dick, house.

 

[xXAsherahXx]

I am dissapointed in you guys, slightly more no's than yeses? and those people that don't know what it is make me sick

Can you hear me from up there?

 

[Mr.PlanetEater]

It's a damn fine novel, the character is annoying as all hell but that's what makes the book great. It's not meant to be 'Entertaining' by today's standards of nonstop action which is just mere spectacle, and not actually Entertainment. It's a case study of human behavior, and society as a whole and that involves the negative of society, and the triumph of human spirit.

Holden is a prat sure, but that's the point for the plot to work and for the character to actually allow self reflection and or discovery he has to be a Dick or an overtly Happy guy..you can't have a character that's in the middle emotionally, and behaviorally it just won't allow for the amount of Society, and Human reflect that this Novel and others like it where written for.

Plus, and I understand this may not apply to you..but I've found that a lot of people that hated a book like Catcher in the Rye, or Animal Farm was because they were assigned to read it and analyze it to the point of interpreting the semi colons in school, which I suppose can make any one hate a book.

 

[xXAsherahXx]

It's a damn fine novel, the character is annoying as all hell but that's what makes the book great. It's not meant to be 'Entertaining' by today's standards of nonstop action which is just mere spectacle, and not actually Entertainment. It's a case study of human behavior, and society as a whole and that involves the negative of society, and the triumph of human spirit.

Holden is a prat sure, but that's the point for the plot to work and for the character to actually allow self reflection and or discovery he has to be a Dick or an overtly Happy guy..you can't have a character that's in the middle emotionally, and behaviorally it just won't allow for the amount of Society, and Human reflect that this Novel and others like it where written for.

Plus, and I understand this may not apply to you..but I've found that a lot of people that hated a book like Catcher in the Rye, or Animal Farm was because they were assigned to read it and analyze it to the point of interpreting the semi colons in school, which I suppose can make any one hate a book.

It really sucks to read any book in school. However, we haven't done a single thing with this book, we're expected to answer some questions over the period of a month and then it's on to The Great Gatsby.

 

[instantbenz]

Only thing I like about it is "I thought I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes." Of course going on to say that if he was successful, people would have to write him notes. They'd get tired of that and he'd have no more useless goddamn conversations with people ... I can relate.