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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 126 KB, 256x376, catcher-in-the-rye-cover..jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1473715 No.1473715 [Reply] [Original]

BOY BOY BOY BOY BOY BOY CRUMBY CRUMBY CRUMBY CRUMBY GODDAM GODDAM
GODDAM GODDAM GODDAM GODDAM GODDAM

why was this lauded as such a great work? so far I've been BORED TO TEARS, I've read until the part where he talk to the woman with the telephone voice and lovely teeth and tell me, /lit is it worth continuing?

>> No.1473723

You should always finish the books assigned by your high-school English teacher. Once you graduate you can stop books that you don't immediately enjoy.

>> No.1473722

I've read it and i don't know which part you typed about

so I'd say no

>> No.1473735

People who don't like this book:
You are the phonies.

>> No.1473744

>>1473722
he's on the subway, the woman is the mother of a goon at school. Holden later goes to a hotel where he tries unsuccessfully to order alcohol sans ID, and dances with a beautiful moron who dances like a pro.

>>1473723
I'm reading it to discover what exactly made this book such a classic. I'd be lying if my mind's eye saw Holden Caulfield with Mark David Chapman's face, however. Does it live up to it;s reputation or am I reading a Great Gatsby Fame Great American Novel Wannabe?

>> No.1473763 [DELETED] 

>>1473744
Of all the pious worshipers of this book none of them have ever been able to tell me clearly how exactly it won their enduring admiration

Half of them take it at face value and explain that I'm should hold my tongue lest i become a phonie

The other half resorts to such vague justifications

>> No.1473765

>>1473763
Fucking pretentious phony. Salinger is so much better than Dostoyevsky it makes me want to cry, it really does.

>> No.1473769

>>1473744
It captures a mood, an attitude, a time-period, and an age. If you are reading hoping for some awesome plot to unfold you are reading this book for the wrong reasons.

>> No.1473773

>>1473765
Op here. Ok, I've read Dostoyevsky. I have a feeling that you are trolling.

Look at the captcha lol : THE throllo

these things don't lie, comrade

>> No.1473776
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1473776

He fails to have sex with a prostitute. Worst book ever.

>> No.1473777

>>1473769
every book ever written does that. It's implicit in the authors thought process, where the events are staged and in the behavoir of the characters

>> No.1473819

>>1473715
2DeEp4u

>> No.1473833

>>1473819
unlike your mother's throat.

>> No.1473836

>>1473773
Reading dostoyevsky is like having the entire 19th century give you a stern and long lecture...not my cup of tea.

>> No.1473840
File: 258 KB, 788x1285, Smile2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1473840

>>1473836
>he thinks books aren't basically lectures in the first place

>> No.1473851

>>1473840
First of all LOL no...and second of all..i like lectures when they are actually compelling..

>> No.1473858

>>1473836
don't you mean TOLSTOY

>> No.1473859
File: 25 KB, 225x350, Smile3.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1473859

>>1473851
but are not books basically hundreds of pages of you talking to yourself?

>> No.1473872

yeah the value of "the catcher in the rye" is really how sincerely it captures adolescent stupidity. i think it's probably best read when the person reading it is 12-13 and has similar world views.

>> No.1473873

>>1473858
Tolstoy is a lot less blatant, actually, but not much. The best russian writer of the time was Sologub..he knew how to write with subtlety...
>>1473859
No this isn't true to me because I'm not a miserable egomaniac.

>> No.1473894

>>1473859
Yeah if you're a gigantic faggot who can't think of an awesome narrative voiceover.

>> No.1473920

>>1473776
That's because it deals with human condition you dumb shit, not on how easy it is to get a oral from a prostitute.

>> No.1474009

>>1473715
you also forgot:

SERIOUSLY. I REALLY DID. I REALLY DID. PHONIES PHONIES PHONIES CRUMBUMB CRUMBUMB SHOOT THE BREEZE PHONIES

>> No.1474184

>>1473872

Really? Does anyone else agree with this? If so, then fuck it. I'm better off reading Ayn Rand.

>> No.1474193
File: 390 KB, 1920x1200, Smile4.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1474193

>>1473920
Yeah, the condition that Holden will be forever alone

>> No.1474433

It's a good book and there is a reason it's such a common high school book.

However, this sadly damages its reputation among wannabe intellectuals, who seemingly only read books to get as many 'smart points' as they can. So naturally, if it's read by high schoolers and is comparatively easy to follow, it must be a bad book!

The latter has always puzzled me, because I consider that a point against a book unless it has been translated in some way or similar.

>> No.1474471

>>1473872
If you have lost the ability to relate to Holden then that is because you have become what the book is criticising

>> No.1474490

>>1473872
I read it at 16 and thought it was the greatest book ever written. Now I have a slightly lower rating of it but i still believe it is quite good

>> No.1474496

Did anyone else hope that Holden would die at the end?

>> No.1474508

>>1474496
>>1474496
i thought his little sister would die at the end, when they're walkin to the carousel at the end, i thought that when she ran out into the street a car would hit her ass

was prepared for it and everything

>> No.1474511

Some people will like a book, some won't. If you don't like Catcher you don't like it. I liked it, but I see how people might not. Its not a big deal, yes it is a classic, many people have enjoyed it and gotten something from it, doesn't mean everyone will. Though I can't help but wonder if there's a socio-economic bias towards who likes the book and who doesn't.

>> No.1474514

>>1474508
did New York ever have streetcars?

>> No.1474784

>>1474496
I seriously thought that too. After all, in the span of three days, he's barely eaten (alcohol doesn't really count) or slept at all. Those convulsions and his delusions near the end were pointing towards that way.

But then again, I'm kinda glad it ended as it did. A dramatic death or whatever would seem out of place for a rather simple and non-active story. I like to believe Holden took some of Antolini's advice to heart and things got better for him while in a mental ward

>> No.1474796

i can't fucking stand people like OP who expect a story to sweep them off their feet and carry them into a magical realm of reading.

my sister said the same thing about this book
>wtf, i don't get why he has to be negative all the time. this is soooo boring.
(keep in mind this retarded girl considers teen romance novels works of fucking art in literature)

>> No.1474811

one thing that always irked me in the book was the part where his teacher was making somewhat homosexual advances on him in his sleep

but i might be missing something here

>> No.1474813
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1474813

I read when I was 12 and was like wtf? what's the big deal?
then read when I was 16 or so and loved it. read it a few times since then. it takes a while to digest. It's sort of strange how its value is just below what its saying, not on the surface. just be patient OP

>> No.1474816

>>1474811

Saw that scene as kind of a mourning thing; 'all this wasted potential'. Also a little bit of the teacher pitying/playing nurse to the self-destructive pupil. But maybe I'm misremembering that scene . . .

>> No.1474873

>>1473872
agreed with this post

i wouldn't dismiss it as entirely stupidity though, i think the book has a compassionate, pitiful sympathy for holden overall. some of his criticism of others has an element of truth to it, but holden's solipsism/inability to relate to others are growing pains

little does holden know that his teacher (principal? it's been awhile since i've read the book) is a professional sort of catcher in the rye. no one else is quite willing to listen to holden and put up with his aimless, self absorbed behavior and monologues.

>> No.1474885
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1474885

>>1473735
/thread

>> No.1474896

chill OP, let's just chill and shoot the crap together

everything is going to be alright.

>> No.1474978

Don't like the book.
I read it in highschool and didn't like it, reread it in my 20s and disliked it even more.

Holden was just a whiny rich kid to me.

>> No.1475118
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1475118

>>1474896
My mind=blown

Sure thing dude.

>> No.1475125

I could relate completely to Holden.

>> No.1475127

>>1473723
This should be fucking stickied.

>> No.1475129

So original, a thread on /lit/ complaining about a book we were assigned to read in high school.

I am so shocked I could wet myself.

>> No.1476828

I preferred Vernon God Little. Similar themes, modern refresh - wittier narrative, more engaging plot...

>> No.1477006

>>1475129
never was assigned at all.
Canadian public high school, comrade.