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

[cook1254]

I have wanted to read this book for years and finally borrowed it from the library last week.I have only mannaged to get 3/4s of the way through it as I am finding it extremely boring.Has anyone read this book and found it interesting and could tell me why this is classed as a classic.

[sixpence]

cook1254, it was one of the books I promised myself I would read when I retired, but I couldn't get into it either. In fact you read much more than I did. Perhaps someone will give you an answer that will make me want to try again.

[Pippa68]

I think I read about half of it maybe 20 odd years ago..never did go back to it as it made me yawn. I went on to read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' which was far more interesting.

[Drusilla1S]

Most of us have grown up and lived with punk rock and grunge and are very aware of teenage angst. However, The Catcher in the Rye was written just after WWII when the concept of teenagers, let alone their problems, seemed quite revolutionary.

It caught the imagination of young people and worried community leaders with its use of foul language and assault on adult values. It enabled teenagers to recognise and appreciate adolescent issues at a time when people were generally viewed as either adults or children.

Personally, I accept its position as a ground breaking novel, but I only chose to read it because it was one of the books I felt obliged to read. I felt the same about Jack Kerouac's, On The Road; Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and Ernest Hemingway's, The Old Man and the Sea. The latter was brilliant however and surprised me with its simplistic beauty.

I also agree with Pippa68; To Kill A Mockingbird is a better book and my personal favourite. Check out Wickipedia's run down on The Catcher in the Rye. It's quite interesting.

[123paul]

Keep going, I know exactly what you mean. I can't stop reading a book without finishing it so i kept going. It really is worth it.

Now, Catch 22, that really is crap!

[cole13uk]

I love this book and can not understand how you could find it boring, but there you go horses for courses!

[helliebobs]

one of my favourites and i think most people can at some point in their lives relate to it.

[Pippa68]

Hmmmm maybe I should give it another go?

[fat rascal]

didn't get past chapter 1.. so you've done well.

i think if you've got so far you mays well finish!!!

good luck

[noxlumos]

My kids have just finished this as I set it as part of their literature ( we home educate). It was read by children here aged 12, 14 and 15 and only the 15 year old didn't like it. He thought it was dull. My 12 year old loved it and finished it before the other 2 by a few days, so as the above posters suggest I think it's just horses for courses. I too preferred To Kill a Mockingbird mind you, but it is a classic work and I think worth finishing if you can bring yourself to.

[Joe Shmoe]

I have not read this book . So I can not coment on it. However I have read many books and I am sure this will still apply. I have found that in order to truely enjoy a book you must 1: want to read it .Not because you feel you ought to as everyone else is.
2: Have at least a passing interest in the subject matter. 3: have the time to give it your full attention. However it all boils down to personal taste one mans' classic may be anothers worst ever.:-D

[Fentry]

I'm yet to read J.D Salinger, i've been recently looking for a book by him called,nine stories. but all I can find in the shop is catcher in the rye, anyone read nine stories?

[LeMarchand]

I worked in a bookshop for years, and despite "Catcher" being a hugely famous book, it was only just before I left that I found someone who had read it and could tell me what it was about!

[andy-hughes]

It's because it's so 'boring' that it's a classic - it captures the teenage mind-set at a time when 'teenagers' per se did not exist - as Drusilla1S points out - it was massively ahead of it's time, but to modern eyes, appears tame and uninteresting.

[cook1254]

I appologise for not answering before but I have been away.Thank you for all your comments and thoughts. I must say I agree with drusilla, as I read more and more of the book it did strike me that the language Holden uses would have been bold for that time. I also think Salingers style of writing does nothing to help stop it being boring. He writes a sentence then proceeds to rewrite it five or six times more in as many different ways as he can . It just seems he is trying to make the book last longer but not really having anything of great interest to write about. any way that is my oppinion. And yes 123paul and fat rascal I will persevere to the end.Perhaps when I have finished I will post again letting you all now my final verdict ;-)