[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 4 KB, 90x128, 1251623400929.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2449846 No.2449846 [Reply] [Original]

Post your reaction the very moment you realized Catcher in the Rye was shit while you were reading it.

>> No.2449852

It's a book that manages to explore complex themes while maintaining a plot without any particularly interesting or exciting events going on. It's a subtle glimpse into the inner workings of an angst-ridden teen.

What did you find so shit about it?

>> No.2449854

I've read it three times and I never realized that. Because it's an extremely well-written and entertaining book.

>> No.2449866

How about the moment I realized that the masterpiece of a book wouldn't be appreciated by most who don't understand it?

>> No.2449873
File: 42 KB, 220x258, 220px-F._Scott_Fitzgerald,_1921.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2449873

>2012
>Hating a book because you hate it's main character.
>ISHYGDDT

>> No.2449878
File: 32 KB, 354x355, lil-boosie.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2449878

>>2449846

>> No.2449880
File: 34 KB, 350x326, JugJackRussellPugMixOllieHybridDog1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2449880

>>2449854
Im about to explain myself. You like the book, I get you. Dont bother reading this if you're just going to believe im wrong no matter what.
>maintaining a plot without any particularly interesting or exciting events going on.
Well thats one of the things why the book is shit.
Even though its a common response it really all is a spoiled brat walking around having PTSD.
Its also shit because its overly dramatic for what is actually happening. So many people "connect" with the book because Salinger wrote it "up" in the sense that he exaggerated the feelings so that people would go "hey thats how I feel/felt."
Most people only slightly felt that way before reading the book and the moment they did read it they automatically thought themselves to be just like Holden. Its essentially twilight or Scott Pilgrim without the romance.
>>2449852
Cool explaintion

>> No.2449888

>>2449873
>Hating a book because you hate it's main character.
Please name books in which the main character doesn't need to be liked for it to still be a good book.
Bible doesent count

>> No.2449889

>>2449880
Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's meaningless.

>> No.2449902
File: 29 KB, 450x351, angry reader.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2449902

>> No.2449907
File: 79 KB, 680x487, 1278572424763.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2449907

>>2449889
Oh I understand it.
I thought the last sentences were the best. They're really true.
Ive done the same things he has while I was on vacation away from my family living at a aunts home in Seattle when I was a teen. What makes it different was that I didnt think like a faggy angst ridden teen trying to sound deep like Salinger wrote him to be. The entire time I was pretending to be an adult at a lounge,chating up strangers, and walking around with my inner monologue, it was mostly self-loathing and thoughts about my future and how awesome it felt to be so independent and getting away with so much shit.

>> No.2449908
File: 5 KB, 126x122, laughinghard.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2449908

>mfw

Seriously, that book was fucking hilarious.

>> No.2449909

>>2449880
If this were the opening paragraph of an essay, I would tell you to see me after class, because obviously you aren't grasping the material.

>> No.2449914

>>2449907
>my experience was different
>ALL OTHER EXPERIENCES ARE WRONGBADAWFUL

grow up

>> No.2449920

>>2449880

I'm this poster >>2449852

Thanks, and I see your point but I also think it's something of an opinion. It comes down to what you think is important for a plot.

When I first read Catcher in the Rye I didn't understand why it was so bland plot-wise, it's definitely intentional.

These days you can't write a book like that and have it be popular, plots just can't be that bland if you want the book to resonate with the readers and sell copies.

Maybe I just liked it for the writing, I don't always like the same books for the same reasons. I enjoyed The Great Gatsby because of the writing but I also found the Twilight saga to be readable, because I enjoyed the plot (feel free to laugh at me mockingly, I'll take it in my stride).

>> No.2449923

I love this book. I am not really sure why I like it so much but I enjoy it. Just reading how he just goes out into the city by himself and how he gets lonely. I can't really explain it but it all depends on the reader's experience and how the person can relate to Caulfield's experience.

>> No.2449925

>>2449888

Lord of the Flies, those kids are all massive dicks.

>> No.2449932

>>2449914
I never said my experience was diffrent you fucking marshmallow eating faggot. I pretty much saying the JD Saladfinger couldn't illustrate the mind and actions of a teenage boy through his writing well.

The only thing I do admire about the book is that it helped kill John Lennon

>> No.2449935

>>2449888
A Confederacy of Dunces
American Psycho
A Clockwork Orange

And those are just the books with protaginists made to be unlikable. What about people who don't like 1984 because they don't like Winston Smith. Does that make 1984 a bad book?

>> No.2449938

>>2449932
did you order a prostitute? Did your brother die? No?
THEN YOUR EXPERIENCE WAS DIFFERENT

YES I MAD

>> No.2449939

What I liked about Catcher in the Rye is how Holden's angst is terribly worthless and futile. Seriously, I often see the book clasified as a "coming-of-age" novel but, shit...did he actually learned something? not at all, his world is broken, everything he wanted to do was rendered impossible...he can't abandon the life and society he seems to despise. He did not grow up, he got worse by the end. It's sad, but hey, I think Lovecraft (inb4 lol, lovecraft) talked about it on CoC opening paragraph: we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

Holden couldn't go back. It was a nice novel, imo.

>> No.2449944
File: 9 KB, 259x194, agumrye.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2449944

>> No.2449946

>>2449935

I liked the protagonists of American Psycho and A Clockwork Orange.

Does this make me a bad person?

>> No.2449956

>>2449939
That's the point. Some might say Salinger was being deliberately satirical.

>> No.2449959

>>2449920

I still don't get why /lit/ hates Gatsby and Fitzgerald's oeuvre...do americans hate all their own great writers?

>> No.2449958

>>2449939

Lots of books get called coming-of-age novels even though they're not. My first book was called that and it pissed me off, it was about a 21-year-old escaping from his own personality defects and homelessness, he doesn't actual technically do any 'growing up'.

>> No.2449972

>>2449958
>>2449956

It's a shame how the industry lies to the readers just to fit a novel into a certain genre.

>> No.2449976

>>2449959
That's the stupidest generalization I've heard about /lit/. If anything, /lit/ reads like 95% American lit.

>> No.2449978

>>2449956
stephenie meyers too
i love me some good satire

>> No.2449985

>>2449976

Then it's good to know I'm wrong. Thank you, good sir.

>> No.2449990
File: 342 KB, 265x198, 126662031446.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2449990

>>2449935
>A Confederacy of Dunces
I thought the main character was pretty funny. Especially when you imagine him as looking and behaving like a Will Ferrell character.
>American Psycho
I thought he was rather interesting
>A Clockwork Orange
Haven't read it nor do I plan too until I get a uncensored original writing version
>1984
I started to like all the main characters as you can see the humanity in them that many people did not
Other also said
>Lord of the Flies
I thought the pig head was the most likeable character as well as having the most interesting dialogue.
>>2449938
Alright Ill confess that my brother didnt die nor did I order a prostitute. But im talking more of the way of thinking and conciseness

>> No.2450432

I hated that book. Despised every part of it. I honestly... hate it so much I couldn't even begin to explain why. This is the book that rubbed me the wrong way in every way. And I know it's this book in particular because I liked it's elements in other books. I hated the main character in Turgenev's Fathers and Sons as well but by god I loved the book a lot more than motherfucking Catcher Rye shit. Even the entirety of Adrian Mole has a more compelling plot than the Rye piss.
But then that's Catcher in the Rye for you. I find you either love it or hate it.

>> No.2450454

>>2449978
The difference is that Meyers has no goddamned clue how to write in the first person.

>> No.2450802

Came here to defend Holden.

Other people did it for me.

Go internet!

>> No.2450830

Halfway through I realized people only liked it because it symbolizes something or other about losing innocence.
It's a terrible book and Salinger is technically awful.

>> No.2450835

>>2450830

Just what the hell is with people saying a writer is shit without even coming up with a decent argument? I mean, yes, you have the right to dislike a novel...but come on, give me some debate fuel; that way we can both learn.

>> No.2450847

>>2450835
Trolling teens. And people are paid to disrupt 4chan.

>> No.2450864

>>2450835
I really struggled with the way he wrote it. I understand his intention with that style was to make it seem as if Holden was actually talking to the reader, but I felt it got in the way of the text. I admit, attraction to writing style is a matter of taste.
Other than that, I found Catcher in the Rye an amazingly patronizing text, and I felt the characterization of Caulfield was posing as realism but in actuality, he is one of the least real main characters outside of fantasy novels.
I read this right about the same time I read Catch-22, and for a direct comparison, Heller creates a hyper-realistic scenario but Yossarian's reaction to it, and the depiction of the PTSD was portrayed better.

>> No.2450867
File: 22 KB, 213x224, 1317896013402.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2450867

>>2449908

This nigga knows what's up.

Catcher in the Rye is seriously one of the funniest books I've read, to the point I had to control myself while reading it in public places.

>> No.2450874

>>2450864

Thanks a lot. I do understand when you talk about Catcher being an overly patronizing text. I disagree with the idea of Holden characterization being non-realistic, though. Why? because people felt a connection to him.

>> No.2450885
File: 75 KB, 800x600, 1324266109783.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2450885

I'm not sure how this book became a literary pariah on the internet, but I do not approve. It's a good book yo.

>> No.2450896
File: 5 KB, 130x172, Lloyd.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2450896

The Great Gatsby is infinitely better that Catcher In The Rye.

Catcher In The Rye is a fucking pretentious borefest which isn't illustrative of anything a fucking whining emo bitch couldn't tell you.

Gatsby is a tour de force of profound symbolism and realism analogous of the unshakable duality that forever accompanies idealist dreams.

The only reason Salinger was a recluse was because he knew he couldn't write for shit and that if he was challenged even once, he would be exposed as the hack that dropped his pick into a well of shit-for-brain beatniks and accidentally struck oil.

>> No.2450943

>>2450874
Its been about 7 years or so since I read Catcher in the Rye, but Salinger's Holden was an extreme exaggeration of angst as far as I remember. This seems to me to be the reason why people, especially teenagers, are so drawn to him. In a way, Holden is the ideal angst character. When I was seventeen, I found it very unlikely that I would be able to hire a prostitute, run away, live in New York for three days or whatever whilst constantly getting drunk, nor had I heard of anyone who had done that, but I can see why it was so appealing for most of the kids in my class.

>> No.2452233
File: 177 KB, 327x285, 2dnigga.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2452233

>> No.2452242
File: 30 KB, 390x331, wms6.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2452242

once while in a binge re-reading of the book this thread is about (third time in as many days) when I got to the part where Holden is being an absolute dick to the girl at the ice skating rink, I condemned it to being shit. It's a novel that is so masterfully done that at one time a reader can't help but to hate it. But then come back to it with eyes lowered later on, willing to give it another chance.

>> No.2452261
File: 151 KB, 340x253, 1323140599178.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2452261

>mfw I didn't think it was shit

>> No.2452267

>>2450896
Wow. No.

>> No.2452276

I'm sorry but I love that book and there will always be a place for it in my heart. I read it when I was around 16 and could completely relate to Holden Caufield, I was Holden Caufield and Holden Caufield is me...four years ago.
so you can all fuck off.
catch in the rye was wonderful.

>> No.2452281

>>2449880
no, I'm sorry, you are totally wrong and I totally agree with the person who commented and said
>>2449866
How about the moment I realized that the masterpiece of a book wouldn't be appreciated by most who don't understand it?

there's so many themes and hidden messages in this book that not everyone will understand because not everyone experiences some of those feelings. the whole "phony" thing, was exactly how I felt when I read that book. I WAS A HOLDEN CAUFIELD. in every aspect of my life. preserving innocence, and all that.
it's not just a book about some dick doing random things,
it's deep
and it's beautiful.

>> No.2452283

I deeply enjoyed it when I was prepubescent and I could relate.

Now, while I enjoy it less, I still respect it out of nostalgia.