Current Events > Why dont people like Catcher in the Rye?

(+) Yeah! (+)

By the end of the first page I already hated the protagonist.

Combo of the protag being unbearable (even if this was intentional it doesn't make for an enjoyable read) and the actual overall plot just being pretty boring.

Pretty sure you arent supposed to like him, and once you get through it, thats when the book becomes fun

Why does it seem like no one ever views him as a confused kid going through a phase of hyper judgementalism? They always either try to identify with his "rebelliousness" or try to judge him as harshly as a grown adult.

Why does it seem like no one ever views him as a confused kid going through a phase of hyper judgementalism? They always either try to identify with his "rebelliousness" or try to judge him as harshly as a grown adult.

Holden Caufield is probably the worst protagonist I've ever read. Made the book throughly unenjoyable. Only worse book I had to read in high school was Great Expectations.

Why does it seem like no one ever views him as a confused kid going through a phase of hyper judgementalism? They always either try to identify with his "rebelliousness" or try to judge him as harshly as a grown adult.

Also add to it the "English Class" kind of reading, which is probably why most people who read it had to read it.

I feel like if I tried reading it again like 10 years out of high school, I might like it again, but it was also the least enjoyable book I had to read for English Class basically the entire time I was in school.

You didn't have to read David Copperfield? That book fucked me up

Its an extremely well-written and convincing book about a typical wealthy teenager. But, like most typical wealthy teenagers, Holden Caulfield is a self-absorbed and narcissistic asshole and he doesnt make for an enjoyable protagonist for many.

Small list of his accomplishments from my memory of reading the book over twenty years ago:

- constantly mocked and belittled his classmates and supposed friends at nearly every waking moment,
- patted himself on the back for not being a rapist, and then went on to more or less think that women owed him something for being so nice with a typical incel-mindset,
- faked having cancer to get sympathy from an older woman, and
- proceeded to make up random stories about said woman's son for literally no reason at all

I'm sure that there are more, but I mostly forget. Those ones stood the test of time as being particularly obnoxious, though.

Combo of the protag being unbearable (even if this was intentional it doesn't make for an enjoyable read) and the actual overall plot just being pretty boring.

Combo of the protag being unbearable (even if this was intentional it doesn't make for an enjoyable read) and the actual overall plot just being pretty boring.