Catcher was considered pretty shocking at the time (1951), but it was banned from schools, library's and colleges because of the content and the powerful way it was written rather than the swearing. A victim of its own success i guess. People read catcher and they don't feel a trace of the author - it's ALL holden. It never once breaks character, which makes it a pretty pursuasive book for adults let alone kids. Then consider that catcher is about a teenager from an affluent family having a nervous breakdown, dismissing society, exploring sexuality, getting in fights, abandoning education, running away, lying nonstop, and generally finding the human condition to be futile. Not the kind of thing 1950s headmasters wanted their kids reading with all that rock and a roll music on the horizon.
I'm rereading it right now, and i don't know how it does it, i'm not that great a critic, but of all the books i read as a kid, holden is the only character that still has the same razor sharp edge as he did when i was 15.
I'm rereading it right now, and i don't know how it does it, i'm not that great a critic, but of all the books i read as a kid, holden is the only character that still has the same razor sharp edge as he did when i was 15.
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