DS despises Catcher In The Rye. So proud of him.

[ReanimatedSGB]

I'm also rather surprised that this tedious wank is still being pushed on schoolkids as Great Literature. I hated it when I read it in my teens and am very glad to find that DS is as unimpressesd as I was - it's just one long white-boy whine, isn't it?

I loved Bonjour Tristesse! Which I retrieved from my parents’ bookcase, as opposed to reading at school.

It’s the only book I’ve read more than once, I’ve read it 3 times in my lifetime and recently bought my teen son a copy.

I feel that to describe it as a ‘white boy whine’ is missing the point. It’s about grief and hope.

Scout is a girl. Do you mean a boy?

'Would it have been different if Scout had been a girl?'

🤔

You may need to sit down. I have some shocking news for you...

I always thought Catcher was supposed to be pretentious wankery. Its adult fiction imagined from the mind of a teenage boy who is having a bit of an existential crisis.

^I love it by the way and find it quite upsetting.

Yes that was my interpretation too. I didn't really get it as a teen but after reading it as an adult, I appreciated it now.

Warning! Do not rely on an unreliable narrator.

We never read it at school but I left school over 20 years ago. We had to read 'The Incredible Journey' and I've never known of such a boring book in my entire life! I dunno if the idea was to turn us all into animal lovers or something!
We also read 'Of Mice and Men' which I don't think anyone liked. I still don't like it. I myself was reading Sylvia Plath which my English teacher was very impressed with when we were bringing our own books in.
I don't remember studying Shakespeare in much detail but I've never read any since, just doesn't interest me.
I don't get why we covered American authors though so much at school.
Shakespeare isn't the only example of English literature!

I remember the idiots at school parroting ‘they are such a phoney’ bla bla bla at the time. 🙄

Hmm, I remember liking it. I hear in this world of 7 billion it's fine to like different things now.

Agree with pissedonatrain.
I would be proud if he came to that conclusion without any home imput.
That said practically every book that was 'chosen for me' at school was boring or rubbish according to younger me
Except "Of Mice and Men" which I was glued to though not so much now

I've never heard of it but will be checking if I can get a cheap kindle copy!

I hated it. After Mark Chapman I was so afraid of the book that I spent years avoiding it. After reading it, not only did I not murder anyone...I was just vastly underwhelmed...

Find another reason other than "white, whiney, entitled man" to dislike a book.

I am married to and mother of middleclass white men and I can assure you that they feel pain,Joy and discrimination the same as anyone else.

There was a time they were given better jobs but not in my dh's professional lifetime.

He was just refused a night job where he could have taught 100s of university students math bc of the reasons of his color and age. Unfortunately for students, bc he's an excellent teacher who feels a dedication to teaching that few do. No, the position wasn't filled by someone better/as experienced.

I hate most recommended reading. It's generally dry, agendist and overall boring or shocking. But i have better critique than "white elitist."

It’s a terrible book, as is Wuthering Heights, can’t stand either of them.

Why does the narrator’s skin colour have to be mentioned? Not sure the relevance of this tbh.

Ffs it's just a book do why are you celebrating?
Also being racist isn't helpful.
I read Of Mice And Men and Lord Of The Flies in school, didn't care much for them but no one celebrated when we didn't like a book 😂

Loved it when we were given it to read at my all girls convent school in the early nineties! Have always hated Jane Austen with a passion. Loved and still l8ve the Brontes. Give me a bit of melodrama any day

However, I stand by 'white boy whine' as a good term for a particular type of overrated book - the sort that is Great Literature about the Human Condition when produced by, well, a whining white man but just genre fiction or popular fiction or somehow less 'important' if the author is female or BAME.

You might just as well talk about women whining or black women whining. As for literature by BAME writers being considered less just about everything now published by a female BAME author is lauded as a tour de force or similar.

What a totally weird thing to be proud of, you're proud of him for being able to read and book and decide if he likes it? Anyone can do that, it seems an extremely low bar for parental pride.

"why does the narrator's skin colour have to be mentioned?"

The OP has form for racial and gender based bigotry.

I read this book as a young teen, in one sitting, one sunny day (I remember this day vividly). It was like Salinger had written this book for me. I was so moved by HC, I understood him.

I was pretty much reading under duress until this point. This book was a revelation and changed everything.

@Eliza9917
You again?