Book 19: The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger

 Finished May 30, 2022

Everyone knows this is a classic, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. 

I know that every literary character doesn't have to be like me -- in fact, that's what's great about literature ... that you get to experience other lives -- but the main character's "angst" (self-pity) became so tedious by chapter 2. It never occurs to him that his disappointments and failures are his own fault. He blames others for all his problems, and justifies his own cruelty. He has very low standards for himself and very high standards for everyone else, to the point where he cannot enjoy a movie, a museum, a live music performance, or even a prostitute, because he accuses everyone and everything of being "phony," which apparently he finds intolerable. This is the antithesis of a Bronte or Austen novel, in which all the feelings and experiences which are examined and explored ad nauseum are negative.

I keep trying to understand why Salinger wrote this book. Perhaps it was to show that side of human nature that detests others for the faults in ourselves. Perhaps it is a commentary on the slide of society following the world wars, when the U.S. experienced unprecedented wealth, comfort, safety, entertainment, and options, compared to previous generations. The easier life got, the more introspective, self-serving, and impatient we as a society became. 

Holden Caulfield is lonely and irresponsible. He's about to get kicked out of another prep school. He says he hates his roommate, yet accompanies him to the washroom to talk as the roommate gets ready for a date. He also writes a composition for him and is hurt when the roommate doesn't like it. He then goads the roommate into beating him up and leaves school a few days early. 

He spends a few days in New York because he doesn't want to be at home when his parents get the letter saying he has been expelled yet again (for utter lack of effort). On the train, he runs into the mother of someone in his class. He invites her to have drinks with him, and when she declines, he takes great joy in lying to her about the kid's popularity at school. 

Once in New York, he spends an unsatisfying evening at a bar criticizing an accomplished piano player. On another night, he spends an unsatisfying evening at another bar, dancing with three women whom he criticizes nonstop. Another night, he has a prostitute up to his room for an unsatisfying visit in which she comes back with her pimp for another $5, which they say he owes her, even though he and the prostitute didn't have sex.

He checks out of the unsatisfying hotel and checks his bags at the train station while he goes off to meet a girl he knew back home. They have an unsatisfying visit in which he makes her cry, and she leaves. Then he visits a former teacher, a man a few years older than Caulfield who's married but drinks a lot. He freaks out when he wakes up in the middle of the night to find the teacher sitting by the sofa where he's sleeping, looking at him and stroking his hair. He packs his belongings and leaves, sleeping in the train station and having, in his words, the most depressing night of this life.

Caulfield makes his way home and sneaks into the house to say hello to his younger sister, the only person in the world he seems to love. He tells her he's going to run away and work on a ranch out West, and she gives him money. The next day, he feels guilty about taking her money, so he goes to her school, and at lunchtime, tries to give it back. But she has a suitcase packed and wants to go with him. He's rude to her and she's crushed, but he eventually convinces her to cut school and go to the zoo with him. 

At the zoo, he convinces her to ride the carrousel, which she used to love to do when they, with their older brother (now a screenwriter in Hollywood), and their younger brother, who died years before. He sits on a bench and she rides the carrousel, where he seems to have the most authentic moment of abject love in the entire book. 

It begins to rain and he sits in the rain watching her, finally catching a bad cold and ending up in what might be a psychiatric hospital, being treated by a psychologist. A new prep school has been secured, which he will attend in the fall after he is released from the hospital. 

Yeah ... 

I know a lot of people enjoy feeling bad after reading a book, but I'm not one of them.