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?

When I started teaching at a very traditional ex grammar school in 1982 there was a set of old, dusty, much used and dog eared paperbacks about to be thrown out. It was a set of ‘CITR’. I read it for the first time then at the age of 26 and thought it extremely dated and of its time but loved the first sentence - and still,do.

If it was dated then, it seems hundreds of years old now with the tumultuous changes in science, technology and society we have had since the ‘80’s. The book seems be portraying an age like that of the Georgians. No one would care at all what a poor, confused teenage boy thought or felt about life. The unfortunate beings are left in their rooms playing war games and watching internet porn while the girls get on with ruling the world.

I REALLY tried with Catcher In The Rye as it always seemed to be one of those books that is endlessly raved about - a Must-Read-Before-You-Die type of icon.

Bored bluddy stupid after 22 pages......

When I first read it as an angsty teenager it resonated with me because I too felt very strongly that much of society was 'phoney' and fake. When I read it many tears later as a parent I recognised Holden's profound loneliness and depression, and the extent to which he'd been affected by neglect. It made me weep.

@HarperIs Bazaar it isn't a set text, they had it as additional reading (the previous book they were reading was The Hunger Games).

On the strength of this thread I have re started

Only one page 40 but read his brother died

So whilst I can’t remeber the ending it’s surely normal for a Bereaved and lonely child at boarding school to act up a bit

Feel sad reading comments here

An update for those of you generally interested in what they make kids read at school these days.
I swear I am not making shit up but the book they have now moved on to is...
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

(I intend to go and read it myself...)