Catcher in the Rye

The book itself had nothing to do with the Beat Generation.

 

I never did understand their poetry. Good thing.

 

If you are mentally unstable, it's probably a good idea to put it down. The book is about a teenager having a nervous breakdown. Naturally crazy people identify with it. For the rest of us, it's a poignant tragedy about a kid growing up without love.

 

Depends on what you mean by "better". It's not Raiders of the Lost Ark. A central point of the book, as I read it, is that being a spoiled rich kid doesn't ensure happiness or sanity, maybe even makes it harder to attain.

 

Well, that's why I asked if Catcher and the Rye was heralded as this masterpiece as a reaction to the Beat Generation or rather the Beatniks that preceded it.

I loved the Beat Generation. Specifically, Keroac. I want to say there was a specific game for the poetry. I think it's in On the Road and I remember replaying it to write. I don't remember it. I was 15 at the time.

 

Personally I expected a dramatic ending but it seems Holden took his little sister's money and they went on a carnival ride and he got wet in the rain and got sick and maybe well again and ...adios readers. Lucky for us the publishing industry didn't think it was important to publish anything else from Salinger other than Frannie something.

 

That book suuuuuuuuuucks. I’ve read that mess about 100 times, and it’s torture. I’d rather be water boarded.