The Catcher in the Rye

On Dec. 14th, 2005, I went to Borders just looking for a book to buy. I saw The Catcher in the Rye and decided to pick it up. I had never read it and I have heard from many people that it was a good book. I had also recently watched a news special about the murder of John Lennon and how his killer, Mark David Chapman, was obsessed with the book and related Lennon to the "phony" people the main character in the book despised.

I finally started the book last week and I just finshed it. I thought it was great. What I enjoyed even more is how well I understood it. I know many high schools have The Catcher in the Rye as required reading. My school did, but I wasn't in a class that read it. Funny thing is, I don't think I would have understood it if I had read it then. The main character is 17, reflecting on when he was 16, and in high school...which we all know is a very "awkward, what the hell am I doing and where am I going" kind of time. I didn't go through that in high school, though. I thought I knew what I wanted, where I was going...I had a plan. It was only after high school and now after college that I've realized that maybe I didn't have a clue. I guess what I am saying is that the book wouldn't have related to me then, if I had read it, as it does now. I just found it to be very good and moving at some points. I absolutely loved and I definitely recommend it, if you haven't read it already....or perhaps, now that you're all adults, you should read it again.