Reading this was like experiencing that slimy weird taste that cooked mushrooms get for the first time. And I haven't tried them since. I feel odd not liking it because so many love this book and applaud the writer but I wouldn't be honest if I went along with the crowd.
Holden is a sixteen year old boy filled with angst and seeking adventure in New York. He seems to be plagued by laziness in turn results in multiple school flunk outs. His parents are very well to do and have previously suffered the loss of their younger son. Holden describes his distaste for inconvenient conversations, stuck ups, swear words inscribed on the walls and stalls, people who can't communicate, chick flicks, and hearing about how his friends got laid by girls he knew.
Thats not even close to a whole list of all the things Holden hates. Alas, He ends up leaving Pencey a prestigious school for boys. The school Christmas break is coming soon but he is kicked out early and returns to his home city hoping to camp out at friends places until he can return home on the official day of the school vacation schedule. Along the way he pays a prostitute to talk to him then gets scammed out of money from her pimp. He gets drunk with a friend who doesn't even care about him but rather gets annoyed with him and tells him to grow up.
He is desiring some female tail and "buzz's" one of his lady friends and takes her out on a date then realizes that she is shallow and that he doesn't like plays with romance. He donates money to a pair of nuns he shares coffee with. The taxi cab drivers also get majorly annoyed when he tries to ask them where the ducks go for the winter. In the wee hours of the night he finally sneaks into his sisters room and they catch up. Then he tells her that he is running away to the west and she tries to go with him. When she tries to follow him lugging a huge suitcase he consents to staying home and then it ends.
Maybe I'm too much of a positive patty but all the negativity of his displeasure at the world made me angry. Holden did not change as a character at all. I sensed no growth or desire to achieve anything. Plot? If it was to show the view of a hormonally deranged young man on the cusp of maturity it did well. Even then it missed a climax. The swearing was abhorrently excessive as well which also nagged at me. The language was very simple minded. Overall I was disappointed.
-J Feistner
No comments:
Post a Comment