Not so long ago I read 'My Salinger Year', a memoir by a young woman in her first job at a literary agency that just happened to number JD Salinger among its clients. She revels in the myth of the hermit like Salinger, she answers his hundreds and hundreds of fan mail on his behalf, she eventually meets him. Many of his writings get a mention in the book, none more so than The Catcher in the Rye, that angst ridden teenage rant of young Holden Caulfield who is having the usual crap time of life that teenagers the universe over have always had. So I thought I better read it, again, as I did way back in my tender youth. It is actually still pretty good, and did take me back to the intense emotional tragedy that one feels one's life is between about the ages of 14 and 18. Poor old Holden -misunderstood, unloved, unable to attract any girls, very self centred and full of his own self importance. At least he comes from money so no worries there, unlike the vast majority of teenagers...
This book has over 36,000 reviews on GoodReads, so not much more to say really. Read some of the reviews, they are great, works of art themselves! Glad I am not a teenager, and never to be one again, horrible time in one's life.
No comments:
Post a Comment