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Catcher in the Rye: An Overrated POS
by JesusTookMyBike123
I constantly hear of how this book `changed peoples lives' or `enlightened' them in some kind of way. In my opinion, the book flat out sucked. It lacked the excitement and suspense crucial in keeping the readers attention and it lacked originality to say the very least. I was forced to read this last year, in tenth grade. I flipped the book over, and look, it is only reading level eight.
For the longest time I have been trying to realize or even understand why people take such interest in this book. It has basically come down to this: people can relate to the main character, Holden. His personality is so typical, it is just about impossible that any teenager couldn't relate to him in some kind of remote way.
Then I think to myself, it has got to be more than that. It has gotten to the point where it is almost shameful if you HAVEN'T read this piece of shit. The plot line itself is simple, the events are simple, the entire book is composed of simple events, ideas, and characters. Therefore it must be popular due to its simplicity, its lack of anything thought provoking at all. It would figure that this generation of teenagers, and even those before us could relate to this book. Why would we want to think when we could have Holden Caulfield do that for us?
Now, why else could this piece of literary garbage be popular? Some say symbolism, not much of it holds symbolism. It is more centered around the theme, the loss of innocence. Do people not realize this is a common theme? Apparently it only makes sense when its written to appeal to an eighth grader. Apparently it only makes sense when it is written about a teenager, in a bland fashion that basically recreates typical situations of any teenager out there. There are a million books like this, why is this one so different?
Enlightenment, relation, popularity, symbolism... who knows? Who knows why J.D Salinger has earned such a prestigious title for such a typical, overrated, piece-of-shit book? Who knows why teenagers talk about this book like it's almost sinful to have not read it? Who knows, I sure as hell don't.
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