Mumsnet Talk

Just wanted to update.

I stuck with it and actually thought it was a good story and although I can't say I liked it as such, in that it is a difficult book to say you enjoyed (due to the subject matter) I am pleased that I didn't give up on it.

I loved the character of McMurphy and his affect on the Combine etc, I think I need to read a bit around the story line for any points I missed. Or just watch the film as suggested earlier in the thread

I may have shed a little tear at the end.

Have just started Catcher, so far I agree - very easy read (especially in comparison to Cuckoo's Nest).

Hi everyone, sorry for running from the thread, had a busy day.

Great to hear other people's opinions on books that I have tried and failed to read - Anna Karenina being another!

I have a list now of books that I will read with a more open mind (rather than reading it and expecting wonders as it is a classic) thanks to this thread.

Tufty, thank you for the offer - very kind of you, I have this evening found out that my very own Mum has a copy and she has offered it to me, she said it was 'ok but overrated'

If it is easy to read though, I have to have a go don't I!

Grapes of Wrath is one of Mum's all time favourite films, not sure if she has read the book. I'm not good with depressing books as such, if I am feeling down then I get too involved and it becomes a chore to read. If I am in an ok mood then I can cope weirdo

So, stick with Cuckoo's Nest and then read Catcher just to see what it's all about (or not as the case may be) and then Steinbeck. If I rate Cuckoo's Nest I will give the Cool Aid Acid Test a read too. However, Gatsby is possibly not on my to-read list

All before April when Baby Boy makes an appearance and any spare time I get will be spent sleeping instead of reading

Read the book first, stick with it, it's my favourite book of all time, it really is worth it.
I read it for the first time when I was just a kid and really struggled, as it wasn't until after I'd finished the book and spoke to my dad about it (who, tbh, I was trying to impress by reading it in the first place) and he told me that the Chief was crazy, (I somehow missed that point, despite him being in a lunatic asylum) that I began to understand his long ramblings.
Then watch the film. I love the film, too, (JN my favourite actor) but there are changes from the story in the book.

I have studied it at a higher level - still don't like it much though.

I love the fact that books can cause such intense emotions either way.

Gatsy is NOT boring!!

Once you have studied it at a higher level, the amount of clever imagery, suggestion and manipulation is truly fascinating. Yes, on the surface it is just a bunch of jazz happy idiots with more money than sense but my goodness there is so much more to it than that....

i have to say that i am comforted by the fact that others got nothing from catchers, i keep thinking 'there is a sub text here that i am too stupid to get'

but its good to know its just shit

I like a balance!

I read 'A Fine Balance' fairly recently and it irritated me so much because the misery just kept piling up and piling up to the extent that it didn't move me at all and instead I was just bored by it. Maybe I'm just a horrible person?!

I find depressing books comforting. That's what real life is so often like. It's when you read books where everything is yay and woop and hurrah and oh no it's a tiny bit sad, but hurrah everyone is young and beautiful and in love that I get depressed.

'Grapes Of Wrath' excellent but I have never been able to bring myself to re-read it as it's so desperately, horribly, relentlessly depressing. I'm too scared to read it again!

grapes of wrath is indeed genius, i mean true utter genius, a hefty book which at first glance seems quite daunting, but .......oh the genius

Yes, love Steinbeck especially Grapes of Wrath. I find Joyce Carol Oates has a similar style, easy to read but still serious.

Catcher in the Rye is boring and pointless.

Catcher = an easy read but an entirely unsatisfactory one. It does nothing for me.

For easy to read classics which are worth reading try some Steinbeck, especially East Of Eden and Of Mice And Men.

I've read Catcher in the rye numerous times, always thinking I've missed something because everyone raves about it. Have given up looking now hahaha. Little claim to fame, I stayed with the actress that played Nurse Ratched. I saw the film before I read the book, so I could only picture Jack Nicholson.

catchers is an easy read - but i got nothing from it, thought it was dull and utter rubbish

I think you'll find Catcher in the Rye an easier read. I can't count the number of times ive read it and I always come away with something new.
It's like a favourite and old charm bracelet.
For me, Salinger, along with Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare (there are others but) didn't waste a single word. Nothing is superfluous. Whereas Hardy or Dickens could've won competitions for their lengthy, sole searching prose. It's not better though just different. I can read Tess of the D'Ubervilles again and again but I'll still skip bits.
Rambling.
Anyway.
Read Catcher in the Rye but
will you buy it? Not borrow it from the library. You need to have it so you can read it again. And bend the corners of the pages.
I'd be happy to send you a copy.
I really would.

I think I gave up on my first attempt to read it, but got into it quicker the second time I picked it up. Once I'd gotten into it, it wasn't actually hard work and it is a good story.

Don't watch the film first, you'll already have the picture of Jack Nicolson in your head and the book is better than the film.

Agree re boring supposed 'classics' - Great Expectations, Anna Karenina and Gatsy all spring to mind,

Thanks for that marzipan, I will see if I can get it in the library (no new fangled e-reader here

Read The Electric Cool Aid Acid test first by Ken Kesey and I think it puts One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest into perspective.
Personally, I prefer the book then the film but hey.

Thanks Tufty, funny you should mention Catcher In The Rye as that is another I had my eye on.

Having read To Kill A Mockingbird at an impressionable age and finding it breath taking I think I understand you completely, knowing much more about history and the politics of the time as an adult, I wonder if I would read it with the same awe as an adult.

I feel my boat of clarity has also sailed away for the evening

Read the book first.
I do think though that with some modern classics, reading them as an adult who's seen 'the big wide world' is different to reading them as an adolescent/young adult.
I could never say a bad word about Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Kes, Cukoos Nest .... because I was young when I read them and they had such an impact.
But, I know adults who didnt read them when younger who just couldn't see why they were so great.
I think this is also true of films.
So, I would persevere but ...
It is a classic and deserves to be but I think as with most things sometimes they grab us and sometimes they don't. Just put it aside, pick something else and revisit it later.
I couldn't tried to say that in a much better way but that ship has sailed for today
Enjoy.

Bloomin' hate Dickens too.

Not read Gatsby but did attempt Great Expectations. Stuck with it til Pip moved to London and then lost the will - I wondered if it was just me

I LOVE Gatsby precisely because everyone is pretty awful. But that's what people are like!

Oh Gatsby is boring - all of the characters are so unpleasant and I hate not having anybody to care about.

X post Custardo, good to know, thanks!