REVIEW: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Title:  The Catcher in the Rye
Author:  J.D. Salinger
Genre / Pages:  Fiction, Young Adult / 224
Publication: Little, Brown and Company, 1991
Rating:  3rd shelf  
Source:  Chapters Indigo
lj's plot in one pot: A coming-of-age story featuring Holden Caufield, a troubled young man, trying to face his demons after his younger brother dies of leukemia.

Well, I know I said that I would put a hold on this one while I read some other pressing books...but, well it was such an easy read and I was just so eager to be done with it and my shame for not having read it before.

And do I feel the sense of accomplishment...or satisfaction?  Well not so much.  I didn't really enjoy the book all that much.  Obviously it is from another time, and so the language/terms/slang used often jarred me.  I also kept waiting for the climactic moment where things either change for Holden, or he at least perceives himself in a more realistic light.  It never happened...not in any sort of satisfying way.

This is my struggle with reading "classics".  I want to like them, I want to be able to appreciate them for what they are, but I usually have a really hard time getting into them.  I plowed through Salinger, because I had to, not because anything in the book made me want to.  

What do you think?  Are there classics that transcend time?  I don't doubt it, but I've yet to come across one - so please, give me suggestions.

"There's always a dumb horse race, and some dame breaking a a bottle over a ship, and some chimpanzee riding a goddam bicycle with pants on.  It wouldn't be the same at all.  You don't see what I mean at all" p.133

PS - I really want a red hunting hat :)