Read Twentieth on September 23, 2012.
Hm. Hmmmm.... Hm.
That about summarizes my thoughts on this book.
Let's see if I can make a coherent version of the impressions I got. A good friend of mine described her experience like this: "It was difficult, but I appreciated it." I don't think good literature necessarily has to be easy. Sometimes it has to be difficult. For me, it was difficult to understand the point. I have a clearer idea of the purpose, but it is still a little bit fuzzy. I think the point was to illustrate the limbo between childhood and adulthood. The main character, named Holden Caulfield, is around sixteen years old, and he has flunked out of about 27 schools (that's not accurate, but I don't feel like looking it up). He is pretty much against any kind of adult, claiming that they are all "phonies." Every person he meets that he doesn't like is a "phony." He reminisces about his childhood, about his dead brother Allie and about his little sister Phoebe. His best memories were when he was a child, where nothing seemed so fake. Every time he called someone a phony (and he did it A LOT) I couldn't help but think of how fake he was. Because every time someone was a phony, they were also a really swell guy, or a really nice guy, or a really good guy. He would seem to switch his opinions of someone in an instant. It could be that the book is a sort of flashback, and that his opinions had changed, or it could be that he was just as bad as everyone else. Even though he had all of these resentments about the "adult world," he couldn't stop complaining about how none of the bartenders would let him buy a drink because he was too young. And he smoked so stinking much. He wanted the privileges of an adult, but not the responsibility. I guess that isn't too hard to understand for some people. Nonetheless, Holden Caulfield is one of the most complex characters I have witnessed. Even he had no idea what he was doing half of the time.
And now to the part of the book I hated. Holden tells the story through his own words. He really did. He used the same phrases over and over again. Money was always "dough," and calling someone was always "giving them a buzz." It really was. Everyone was a "phony." I couldn't stand all of the little idiosyncrasies of his language - no kidding. I really couldn't. No kidding, he just talked like your typical jerk kid. He really did. He really did. He really did. He said that all the stinking time. He really did. It's almost like everything he said had to be reinforced by that same structure: [noun] really [respective tense of "to do" or "to be"]. He really did. It annoyed the heck out of me. It really did.
See how annoying that was? Yeah. It was ANNOYING. It really w... Never mind.
Oh, and insert a swear word before every single noun. If that bothers you, don't read it. I don't mind the occasional swearing because I think that sometimes, to convey the tone or mood that the author is trying to convey, it is appropriate. Not necessary, but appropriate. But none of the curses in this book were appropriate. They pretty much showed that Holden is a snot-nosed kid who thinks he's better than everyone else (and he thinks everyone else is a toolbag who thinks that they are better than everyone else).
Needless to say, I'm eager to start on the next book...
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