Is Catcher in The Rye Overrated?

[Anonymous No.3755807]

Thoughts on this novel? Do you find it to be the most overrated and over-hyped novel ever written?

[Anonymouse No.3755812]

Hard to make a case for it being overrated. I don't know of any important figures who I respect that have come down as saying that it's great literature, and the fans of it are often starry-eyed, underread, and say it's a "great book."
Seems to me it's right in where it should be.

[Anonymous No.3755813]

>lecatchintheryethread

[Anonymous No.3755811]

>>3755620

[Anonymous No.3755824]

Over-hyped? Yes.
Overrated? No.

There is no reason to actually dismiss CITR because of its popularity among readers. Although, yes, Holden is gratingly bitchy throughout the novel, the book's progression makes up for it. The context behind catcher -- if you're willing to add Salinger in the mix to interpret the novel -- is haunting, and painfully sad, actually. I like this book, and did actually try thinking about the book's content? It seems most readers here rate the book based on how it stands with the reading public.

[Anonymous No.3755826]

Stop posting without your trip, Sunhawk.

[Anonymous No.3755828]

>>3755824
I want to kill everyone who uses em dashes in internet posts

[Anonymous No.3755832]

>>3755828
Deal with it.

[Anonymous No.3755837]

>>3755832
At least do it correctly, faggot —

[Anonymous No.3755843]

>>3755837
What a great thread.

[Anonymous No.3755852]

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[Anonymouse No.3755862]

>>3755837
It's supposed to be two dashes -- publishers change it in books.
The comma is often weak, the semicolon clumsy -- the dash like a whisper you're telling the reader.

[Anonymouse No.3755864]

>>3755862
If I knew photoshop I'd find one of those rape-y sloth photographs and put a dash there.

[Anonymous No.3755881]

>>3755828
I laughed at this--but seriously, em dashes are great in every setting.

[Anonymous No.3755897]

>>3755824
Agreed, except I didn't think Holden was too bitchy to the point of it annoying me.

He was too likable of a character to annoy me.

[Anonymous No.3755925]

>>3755897
To be fair, I read the book when I was sick with the flu, and I had no patience with Holden's attitude whatsoever because of it. Now, every time I re-read the book, it just brings back the memories and feelings of chronic body ache, and burning fevers.

[Anonymous No.3755931]

>>3755862
Bullshit

[HOLDINGOUTFORASSPICS No.3755932]

>>3755864
was that a ref to laughing man

[Anonymous No.3755956]

a lot of teenagers like it because holden is an angsty anti-hero whose general demeanor has aged astonishingly well

completely aside from that, it's brilliant. It uses the bildungsroman form very interestingly, as those traditionally show a passage from youth to maturity and the protagonist in question is obsessed with stopping this transition from happening in others. It deals meaningfully with the loss of innocence, flirts with existentialism and zen ideas, and makes subtle but powerful biblical allusions.

anyone who doubts salinger as a writer--read franny and zooey. It isn't written in the casual tone that catcher in the rye is, so you'll quickly see that salinger was a real intellectual who made holden a bitchy teenager for a good reason.

[Anonymouse No.3755958]

>>3755931
lrn2style, pleb

[Anonymous No.3755962]

>>3755956
>a lot of teenagers like it because holden is an angsty anti-hero whose general demeanor has aged astonishingly well

actually a large number dislike it for the same reason, so i don't know how well it's really aged. that said, we've had this conversation a million times on /lit/ and it's quite dull, and the rest of your post is on point. carry on.