Saturday, October 24, 2009

Day 22: 343 days left…94 books to go! The One with "the Catcher in the Rye" Review!!!

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

  I have finally read this book...being meaning to for ages...and it was pretty much what I thought it would be....it actually drew many resemblences for me to a 2002 film favorite of mine, Igby Goes Down starring Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Ryan Phillippe, Susan Sarandon, Bill Pullman, Amanda Peet & Jeff Goldblum.....over 50 years after the novel was published, I found the character of "Igby" very similar to "Holden" in this novel.  It's narrated by a wealthy sixteen-year old and tracks his life over the course of just a few days in New York City...I'm really only glad I read it so I know what all the fuss is about and can check it off my list now...but here are a few notable quotes:
  • Opening Paragraph:  "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.  In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."  Chapter 1, Page 3
  • I actually share the same pet-peeve with this next statement:  "That's something that drives me crazy.  When people say something twice that way, after you admit it the first time."  Chapter 2, Page 15  I can't stand it when people rail you for something you've just made yourself vulnerable to...it's rubbing salt in the wound...it's just mean...
  • Window into Holden's soul; personal quote:  "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life."  Chapter 3, Page 22
  • I did respect Holden for his general philosophy about women..."I think if you don't really like a girl, you shouldn't horse around with her at all, and if you do like her, then you're supposed to like her face, and if you like her face, you ought to be careful about doing crumby stuff to it, like squirting water all over it."  Chapter 9, Page 81
  • I appreciated the respect & warmth Holden felt for his younger sister...
  • "If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a ____ if she's late?"  Chapter 17, Page 162
  • Advice Holden received from his teacher about life..."The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one."  Wilhelm Stekel
  • The End

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