I don’t like the way The Catcher in the Rye is written. I really don’t.

The Catcher in the Rye is one of the books I knew I’d have to read eventually for school, so I didn’t even bother to read it before. I’m never sure if I would have liked something better had it not been required reading, but it’s too late now!

My first problem with The Catcher in the Rye is about style. I’m a bit of a writing snob, to tell you the truth. I don’t always write as well as I’d like to, but I recognize good writing in others. The Catcher in the Rye is not well written, but it’s saving grace is that it wasn’t intended to be a great specimen writing style. Most of the writing in the book is structured exactly as the first paragraph of this post is. It’s jarring and disturbing to the reader.

“It has a very good academic rating, Pencey. It really does.”

“They can drive you crazy. They really can.”

“I don’t blame them. I really don’t.”

You get the picture. I understand the author’s desire to make the book conversational, but Salinger sadly over-conversationalizes. Nobody talks like Holden does in the story. Used sparingly, it might be effective (and partially forgivable because it was written over fifty years ago and I don’t know how people had conversations those many years ago), but Salinger liberally used this particular device, which Holden would probably say was “annoying” and “depressing” were he to read his own story.

The plot is…meandering. Holden’s adventures across New York City are unpredictable, but quite odd. It’s hard to empathize with a character who is so “out there.” If I were to run away from school and bumble about New York, I would probably reserve a room at the Waldorf instead of stumbling into a cheap hotel. The lack of purpose to Holden’s time in the city is indicative of how screwed up he is. (I used “screwed up” because, according to Wikipedia, the novel popularized that phrase).

My last issue is with the over-use of “annoying” and “depressing.” I cannot accuse Salinger of innacuracy here. Indeed, fifty years later, the words “annoying” and “depressing” are still among the most-used words in the vocabulary of an average teenager. For precisely that reason, the novel annoys me. Much of my free time is spent playing therapist for friends who need assistance. It’s a task that I don’t mind at all, but hearing the constant cries of annoyance and depression, then reading about it becomes too much.

Yet somehow I can still muster some fondness for The Catcher in the Rye. I respect the book, even if I don’t like the writing. The book’s weaknesses may not even be weaknesses. Salinger was not trying to create a coherent plot or write a refined story. It appears to be his style, which I happen to dislike. I’m a very logical person (it may not seem like it, but I am) and this type of disorganization is unacceptable from a novel that’s trying to be a perfect specimen. Salinger is just willing to be imperfect, I suppose.

I’m also inclined to like The Catcher in the Rye just because it’s one of the most banned books. (The thirteenth most challenged book between 1990 and 2000, according to the ALA). The book is really not as bad in terms of language and adult topics as I had been led to believe. It is certainly no worse than what one would hear walking down the hallways of an average high school. Book censors are very strange, but that is an entirely different blog post.