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/lit/ - Literature

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3968647 No.3968647 [Reply] [Original]

Opinions?

>> No.3968648

Shit.

>> No.3968650

I like it

>> No.3968655

Shit book, very third rate.

I actually never read it.

>> No.3968658

Salinger thought it would be easy. He thought America was 'good,' and he would just go and defeat the bad guys. Nothing prepared him for the limbs that would rip from his platoon, the thick red blood of his friends that would stick to his eyeballs and blind him, the nights spent shaking and crying after sticking his finger into someone's bullet hole to prevent the bleeding only to have the guy die while his fingers were still inside his chest.

Salinger didn't just get PTSD when he returned, he had depression and a misanthropic outlook. He was traumatised by how such seemingly innocent children could turn into such adult monsters that were capable of burning women and children alive. He said 'the sound of a burning child's screams will never leave my ears.' He had to integrate back into society, but couldn't do it. He couldn't sit back and worry about celebrity culture, the charade of politics, or other distractions that seemed forever trivial to him. So he started writing.

His first piece was about a suicide. This, he said, was expressing his own desire to kill himself, but writing it down was a way of coping. He never managed to tackle his disenfranchisement and growing resentment towards society, so create the ultimate character to express himself; Holden Caulfield.

Holden was the child of innocence, free from the burden of seeing war atrocities, yet possessed the adult view that Salinger had. To the average, popular media-consuming, modern child, Holden's going to appear 'edgy' at a surface glance. But he really shouldn't to someone who understands that he's not supposed to be a normal child; he's one who carries the emotional baggage of someone who has seen too much horror and pain, yet has the child-like innocence to not understand where his outlook comes from. He's supposed to encapsulate two extremes, and does so perfectly.

>> No.3968667

Beautiful book. Sage because these threads are always shit and full of fags.

>> No.3970198

one of my favourite books.

>> No.3970204

I started reading this the other day, right near the end now. I have to say, it's so funny. I've really enjoyed reading this and damn right is it an icon for teenage rebellion. It's had me in stitches, I'm 15. The message in it is terrific, a terrific book. Are the other works of Salinger this good, too? I'd love to read some more of his work.
>>3970180 This thread is one I started.

>> No.3971100

It was just okay. I really enjoyed Nine Stories though. Salinger is a much better writer than Catcher makes him out to be.

>> No.3971105

It's fine.