Crazy for Young Adult Books discussion

Join Anny and I as we read The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger starting the 15th of February 2015

Yay!

I am in!

Welcome Cosmic.

I might be a bit late in starting this. I have yet to finish my books from the beginning of the month. I happened upon a reading slump, it's over now and I'm trying to catch up.

Same here to be honest.

Through Chapter 2

(view spoiler)[The book started a bit slow for me. The repetitive words annoyed me slightly. Holden doesn't seem to care about anything which makes me wonder, what does he care about? He says he doesn't think much of his future and has been to four schools already. What makes a person so unmotivated? (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 5

Chapter 3 (view spoiler)[Holden doesn't seem to think much of himself. He says that he's a very good liar but that's not always a good thing. He calls himself illiterate yet he reads a lot. That's like a double negative, or cancelling out what he just said about himself. Ackley was a weird kid. How do you not care so much that you completely ignore someone when they tell you something (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[Stradlater was right by saying what he did. Holden kept saying things over and over again without actually doing anything about it. He was kind of a jerk by asking Holden to do his work because he wanted to go on a date. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 5 (view spoiler)[Holden writing about his brother's mitt and telling us how Allie died was sad. His reaction to the death though was even worse. He sad he broke those windows just for the heck of it. I get that because I used to punch things randomly too. I'm starting to learn more about the type of person Holden is and I don't know if what I feel is pity or understanding. (hide spoiler)]

Through chapter 9

(view spoiler)[Holden is starting to annoy me so much I mean, doesn't he think of others? He's so obsessed with whatever Jane and Stradlater did that he had to go pick a fight. And sure Ackley's a weird kid, but to wake him up and make fun of his religion? Lying about sickness or whatever is bad. When he said that Sally's mom hates him, I scoffed. Of course she does. (hide spoiler)]

Though Chapter 15

(view spoiler)[What's Holden's reason for lying? What is he trying to achieve? Jane obviously means a lot to him So he trusted her enough to tell her about the glove. Maybe that's why he freaked about the whole Stradlater/Jane situation. Overall, he seems like a very restless person.

**Related to previous chapters**- It seems that anyone who doesn't agree with Holden or says no to him, he dislikes. Like with Ackley, he kept saying he- Ackley- is a prince and he called Stadlater a moron knowing the guy hates it.

Holden lives in the past. He keeps going back to things that don't always matter or probably weren't significant to others- like his stolen gloves. What Holden believes a woman wants is...it makes me wonder how he'll treat a woman when the time comes. (hide spoiler)]

Through Chapter 20

(view spoiler)[He said he needed money for his date and yet he bought a record for his sister. I guess that shows just how much Phoebe means to him. Holden trying to get Sally to run away with him was just- wow. It seems like he wants to escape, to get away but he doesn't want to do it alone. As I said earlier about him not liking people disagreeing with him; he called her a 'royal pain in the a**' after she told him his idea was ridiculous. So, Holder gets ideas of what people are like but no matter if anyone says different, he'll stick with his original opinion. I agree with Luce about the psychoanalysis bit. Holden is a peculiar character. I don't know how I feel about this chapter (chapter 20), he broke the record for Phoebe. It wasn't hid fault, things fall all the time, but for him to pick it up and put it in his pocket? I mentioned this earlier: I think Holden has big issues with letting go. He goes off to see Phoebe...in the middle of the night. Does no one who knows Holden see anything? He obviously needs to talk to someone. (hide spoiler)]

Through to the end

(view spoiler)[Sneaking into anyone's house in the middle of the night is creepy but Holden sneaks into his own house to talk to his sister. This guy thinks on a different level. So he first goes through Phoebe's stuff before he wakes her up...and he called Ackley invasive. Phoebe's right, Holden does hate everything. It seems that Phoebe is beginning to understand. Holden still steers the conversation away from his future- away from him. Could James Castle's suicide have triggered Holden's way of acting because he was wearing Holden's turtleneck at the time? I wonder if Holden would ever give Phoebe's money back and what he'd actually use it on. I think Mr. Antolini got into Holden's mind a little bit but then of course, Holden freaked and ran out. It makes me wonder if he'll try to stop 'the fall' or continue as he is. So Holden is afraid of dying? This is normal of course, but to fear that he was going to disappear every time he crossed the street? The museum incident was...weird. Phoebe wanting to go with him and him refusing helped him stay, I think. So Holden got help in the end. That's good. I hope that he did manage to apply himself at the new school. (hide spoiler)]