Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye follows Holden Caulfield on a two-day hooky spree after leaving his private school early for holidays. At age 17, Holden spends most of this time drinking, and trying to ‘get sexy’ with various girls.

I picked this up as it was a classic I’d not read in high school and it had been recommended to me. As a coming of age story, The Catcher in the Rye left much to be desired. Nothing remotely exciting happens. Honestly, Holden came across as kinda emo to me. At the very least, a whiny, pessimistic brat. He thinks just about everything is ‘phoney’ and his attitude towards women is special at best.

And the language! If I read ‘old so-and-so’ or ‘x really did’ one more time I was going to throw the book. The old thing really got me riled as he was inevitably referring to people his age or thereabouts.

The whole thing felt like a meandering fever dream of epically boring proportions. If this book hadn’t been as short as it was, it would have been DNF for sure. NOT RECOMMENDED

****Read on my own