A review by binstonbirchill
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

5.0

One of the benefits of having a huge pile of unread books in your personal library is that once in awhile you read a book that sets up another book in your pile perfectly. Ardennes 1944: The Battle of the Bulge by Antony Beevor did that for this me with The Catcher in the Rye. In Ardennes Beevor mentions Hemingway repeatedly and makes reference to Vonnegut being captured and ultimately taken to Dresden (out of which came Slaughterhouse-Five) and that Salinger was writing Catcher in the Rye among other things in the lead up to that battle. If I hadn't known that bit of history I don't think I would have understood The Catcher nearly as well. The timing was perfect. If you have the context of Salinger's world in mind it becomes a completely different novel than if you read it at face value.

I also have some of the same views of the world, and people in general, as Holden. It's not that I find myself or Holden to be angry, it's more of a recognition of the way things are and a disappointment that things aren't better. I mean, goddamn. Look at the crumby world!