Book Review

A couple of weeks ago, I finished reading The Catcher in The Rye. To be honest, I don't think it was that good. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but after reading the story's synopsis I thought the book would provide a very deep insight to me about what's it like to be depressed and flounder socially as I don't really think that describes me. Instead, I found the book to play on certain motifs very repetitively and uncreatively - he is in a social situation, he thinks others are acting phony, he acts phony, relationship destroyed. I did find the themes of innocence to be interesting though. I think this was done very well, with the idea being imbued throughout the story implicitly. This theme contextualized my maturity. Another thing I think it did well is capture the typical teenage experience of questioning authority and just being lost in life. I plan on rereading it after Crime and Punishment, so maybe I'll gain some more insight. I'll update this post when I do.

TLDR: I'd recommend Catcher in the Rye if one wants to relate to the confusing/lost experience and wishes to understand why some stress the innocence/maturity dichotomy so much. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend reading it.