Catcher in the Rye revisited

Lily Meyer from The Atlantic went back and revisited The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger now that she was no longer an angst-ridden teen, but as an adult — both because it is the 75th anniversary since it was published, and because she wanted to see it with “adult” eyes.

And, in doing so, she found our famously cantankerous protagonist in the story to be less cynical than readers have generally allowed. Holden is very much against the fakers and phonies, but people generally overlook just what the character expected as part of a moral compass.

[…] I was struck not by what Holden is against but by what he’s for. Along with all of his rejections, Holden has a very clear set of ideas about what sorts of behaviors and activities and companions are correct. He doesn’t always live up to his own standards, but he never changes them; he certainly doesn’t give himself breaks. His monologue—the whole book is a monologue—is, in fact, a stream of statements about what’s worthwhile, more than what’s worthless.

Holden’s moral rigor is refreshing in a cultural moment marked by an unsettling mix of cynicism and heedlessness. […]

I will admit that I greatly admire Salinger’s stories, though you would likely be hard-pressed to see the impact of his influence on my own writing.

But Catcher was one of my least favorite stories of his. While I have read most of Nine Stories so many times I have lost count, I have maybe read Catcher two or three times total. I think that Salinger explored the same subjects and did a better job of it in several others of his tales. Less in your face and with less angst than how he approached it with Holden.

After reading that opinion piece, however, I am tempted to read it again with an expanded framework — less as a book of teenage rebellion and cynicism, and more of a book about the positive values Holden held as he travelled from a boarding school as a washout to his home in NYC. I’m wondering if the book is as dated feeling as it seems like it ought to be, or if there are some deeper truths that Salinger captured when he penned the tale 75 years ago.

If anyone is up for reading it (it is a short read), let me know and maybe we’ll treat it as a group read kind of thing. I wouldn’t mind additional thoughts if someone had them, but I also do not mind sitting in my own thoughts about this one.

Let me know.