اولین باری که خوندمش ترم اول دانشگاه بودم، همه تازه از دبیرستان خلاص شده بودیم و "چیا میخونی"یا "چیا گوش میدی" سوال اولی بود که از هم می‌پرسیدیم... پیشنهاد های کتاب هم تکراری بود و بین همه مشترک:
-۱۹۸۴ اورول... اوه عاشقش میشی
-کوری... زندگیت رو عوض می‌کنه
-سمفونی مردگان... قشنگترین کتاب عمرت میشه
-کیمیاگر...لعنتی خیلی خوبه
-مزرعه حیوانات... ده بار خوندمش بی‌نظیره
-ناتور دشت... وای آره عاشقشم
و.....
هممون فاز روشن فکری و افسردگی معنوی داشتیم و مغز هممون هم خالی بود:)
....
کتاب رو به قیمت نصف پشت جلد از دست فروشای انقلاب خریدم، ازینایی بود که انتشارات بی‌نام و نشان چاپ می‌کنن و همیشه پنجاه-شصت درصد تخفیف دارن و الان میدونم که همیشه کیفیت ترجمه هاشون افتضاحه ولی اون‌موقع اصلا نمیدونستم ترجمه خوب یا بد چیه... یادمه از اول تا آخرش دوستش نداشتم و یه کسی رو پیدا کردم که اونم می‌گفت آره منم اصلا خوشم نیومد و نشستیم باهم غر زدیم و اینطوری بود که با هم تفاهم پیدا کردیم و پنج سال بعد ازدواج کردیم :)))))))

این‌دفعه تصمیم گرفتم زبان اصلی بخونمش، شاید قلم خود سلینجر رو بیشتر دوست داشته باشم و همچنین خاطرات اون روزایی که کف مترو میشستم و کتاب میخوندم و احساس خفن بودن می‌کردم زنده بشن.

نظرم پس از خوانش دوم:

اگر بخوام خلاصه و در یک جمله بگم، خیلی دوستش داشتم. خیلی ریویوهای خوب و کاملی براش نوشته شده و من دیگه چیزی نمی‌نویسم.
باز هم میخونمش در آینده.

ترجمه‌ی بد چه کارها که با ما نمی‌کنه:/
حالا باید برم خیلی کتابارو بازخوانی کنم و ببینم متن اصلی چطوری بوده...

"Oldukça cahilimdir, ama epey okurum."
(H. Caulfield)

Why I love it: I know most parents shudder when you bring up this book but honestly, this is a must-read for all high-school kids. I read it when I was sixteen and I was a lonely, depressed girl. I was bullied at school and found solace and companionship with Holden. I mean, he talked about the same things I was feeling at the time. Not that I wanted to commit suicide but that life was complicated and I wanted to escape. Holden taught me it was okay to not be happy all the time. He also brought out the poet in me, which I will always be thankful. See, teens just want to know that what they’re feeling is okay, even if it is dark. The point is to not act on the feelings to the point of suicide. I will always be indebted to Salinger for crafting such a complex character.

My Rating: 5 stars

#BannedBooksWeek

Edit: stop liking and commenting on this review. It's 2021. And the book is still shit.
Edit 2: overall, the unhinged reactions to this review i wrote as a junior in high school says MUCH more about the GoodReads community than it does about my IQ or my ability to analyze literature. to the people frothing at the mouth over this: please go and touch grass.

If I could give this book a zero, I would. I absolutely hated it. Generally, I don't hate books, either. Usually it's a very strong dislike, and generally, I give them a second chance. But no, I will never be reading this book again.

In my opinion, Holden is the worst character in the English language. Salinger tried just too damn hard to make him 'universal', to the point where he becomes unrealistic. His train of thought is annoying and repetitive, and God, those catchphrases of his. Can someone shut this kid up? Holden is almost the anti-Gary Stu. Nearly every thing's wrong with him. The one good thing about him being his love for his younger sister.

The plot is one of the worst I've ever read. It's boring, and it, like Holden, is unbelievably and painfully repetitive. Holden calls up an old friend, has a drink. Holden calls up a girl, has a drink. Holden dances with a girl. Then he drinks. Was there a climax to this book? I must have missed it. Maybe it was Holden nearly freezing to death (um, what?) in Central Park? No, no, maybe it was when Holden called up that hooker! Maybe not. The plot is so fuzzy and flat I couldn't tell when to peak my interest.

And that's just it, it never did.

So buh-bye, Holden! Your book's been gathering dust on my shelf for the past two years and it'll stay that way. Until I decide to sell it, of course.

I was worried as hell about reading this book again. The last time I read it was about a thousand years ago when I was just a kid. I was lousy with angst just like good old Holden back then. I really was. Now that I’m a crummy old guy I figured that I wouldn’t like it anymore. That’s the one thing about crummy old guys, they always hate books that kids like. Every time I reread a corny book that I really liked when I was a kid it makes me want to give the writer a buzz and ask what the hell is going on. It’s like they are trying to give you the time in the back of a cab when you don’t feel like getting the time at all. It’s damn depressing, I swear to God it is. If you want to know the truth, you probably couldn’t even talk to a phony writer on the phone. You would just end up talking to his butler or some snobbish person like that and asking if they would give the writer your message. He probably wouldn’t even do it. The thing with guys like that is that they will never give writers your messages. That’s something that annoys the hell out of me.

Turns out this is still a damn good book. Salinger kid is a great writer. He really is. Maybe I’m still just an angst-ridden sonuvabitch, but this part kills me:

“All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.”p.211

I’ll bet everyone is going to think that I’m just horsin’ around or trying to be all sexy talking like this. The reason for this corny review is because a thousand other people have already written reviews for this book and I’ll bet that they have already said everything that I want to say. It’s pretty depressing. It really is. That’s about all that I’m going to talk about. Now I just hope that no one writes “fuck you” on this review. That’s the thing with some people, they are always sneaking up and writing “fuck you” on your book reviews when you are not looking. They really are.

All of you (no doubt) know the story of Holden Caulfield. This boy was kicked out of a well-to-do boarding school. Sure, he is bright enough, he passed English for heaven’s sake – but the other four subjects, he just did not bother.

He needs to leave and return home to New York. His high-flying lawyer father will be furious when he finds out. However, Holden has some time to ‘enjoy’ himself in The Big Apple, before confronting the inevitable.

I was a bit annoyed with Holden for the first half of this book. He was so negative; he hated everything and everyone. I initially thought this was a bit excessive, but on reflection – there was a bit for him to be negative about. His roommate, Stradlater loved himself and the boy down the hall, Ackley, was a serial pest. There were others – teachers, other kids, that annoyed Holden.

But, hey – he had just been expelled.

He spent a few days in New York City, prior to returning home. He tried to catch up with old mates, and old girlfriends – but these interactions did not really fulfill him. He either annoyed them, or they annoyed him. I found this part a bit sad. We have all had moments in our life (it does not need to be a coming-of-age time), where we are alone, and try to catch up with erstwhile friends, even lovers – but it does not really work out. In fact – I really felt for Holden here.

Then he caught up with his younger sister Phoebe. The only person he truly connects with. We see a different Holden here. It made my heart warm; he loved her, she loved him.

The interesting thing about this book was, I did not like Holden initially but eventually I got to understand this annoying young man. Aren’t we all annoyed, even just a little bit, at that age?

I can understand why this is a classic, and it is. There are little stories within stories here where one could pick this book up and re-read, the feelings and meanings do not just apply to ‘coming of age’ people. They apply to anyone.

I loved it.

5 Stars

journal entry

today i am 15 years old. everything is all bullshit, as usual. i can't believe how fucked everything is around me. like i'm surrounded by zombies. i can't talk to any of my so-called friends, i can't talk to jamie, i can't talk to my parents. who would bother listening anyway. i cannot wait to leave orange county! this place makes me fucking sick. everyone is a hypocrite. everything is so goddamn bright and shiny and sunny and meaningless. FUCK, life is so full of crap.

there is one good thing in my life though. just read this book Catcher in the Rye. blown away! i don't know how a book written decades ago could say exactly what i would say. it is like the author was reading my thoughts and put it all down in this book. things i didn't even realize i felt were right there on the page! I LOVED IT. i think this is my favorite novel of all time. which is not saying a whole lot because there is a ton of pretentious bullshit out there and i bet mrs. durham will force us to read it all. man i hate that bitch.

journal entry

today i am 20 years old. life is great as usual. just enjoyed my wednesday morning wake-and-bake session with j-p, the sun is shining, the san diego weather is beautiful, and tonight i'm off to rob & gregg's to destroy them at bullshit. love that game! gregg says that joelle will be there (yes!) but she'll probably bring that prick pete with her. one of these days i'm going to lose it and kick his ass. "i'm in a band"...fuck you, pete! i will never spin your records.

all i have on the agenda today is to go to the gym and then off to keracik's american lit class. it is not a bad class, although it is nowhere close to gender studies with halberstam. or davidoff's survey of modern postmodernism last semester. now that was a class! it blew my mind. so many things to think about. the reading in american lit has been okay. but we've been assigned to read Catcher in the Rye and it is terrible. can't believe i ever liked this book. caulfield is a whiny little bitch. the book has no depth. there is literally nothing going on with the narrative, style, theme, characterization, it is just one rote cliché after another. he thinks he is such a rebel-without-a-cause but in reality he is just another tired representation of rootless, stereotypical masculinity and gender essentialism. completely inane and without meaning. i think my essay will use some acker-style postmodernist techniques to show how simplistic this trite "classic" truly is. i'm going to deconstruct the shit out of this novel, baby!

journal entry

today i am 25 years old. another gray, drizzly san francisco morning. i wish christopher would wake up, i really need to talk to him after all that shit last night. notes on my pillow, really?? time to grow up dude, i will never "complete you". well actually i'm glad he's still asleep, my throat is too sore to get into it right now with him. plus Food Not Bombs is happening this morning and i have to get the kitchen ready. john is probably hard at work already, typical over-achieving behavior. i bet the wisconsin kids are still crashing on our living room floor. it's time for them to leave! they've seen The Vindictives at every single Epicenter or Gilman show now and it is time for them to hit the road. or learn to take a shower. this apartment is not the world's crashpad!

i woke up early this morning and thumbed through A Catcher in the Rye. i remember hating this book in college for some reason. probably wasn't po-mo enough for me. or "challenging". feh. what a pretentious idiot i was. this is a beautiful book. it changed my life as a kid, i'm not sure how i would have survived orange county without it. just re-reading parts of it brought back all that old angst about all the fucked-up shit in the world that kids have to deal with. i'm not sure there is another book as insightful or as meaningful. or funny! that part with the clipping-of-the-toenails is hilarious. ackley is such a douche. this book is the foundation of every zine that i have ever loved. a perfect novel. it is so...."human", i guess.

journal entry

today i am 30 years old. man my head hurts...so hungover! my birthday party last night was awesome. even got to spend some time on the turntables (thanks kraddy for actually relinquishing a tiny bit of control for once). i must have made out with a half-dozen people. sadly, no real action. i think last night's party will be the last big party i will ever throw. things have got to change. no more partying like the world is about to end, i still have my entire life ahead of me! tomorrow i am going to go into AIG and hand in my notice. i am not an entertainment insurance underwriter, that is not me. fuck them. if erika can get me that job working with homeless kids at Hospitality House, than i am set. although moving from the biggest room in the flat to the water heater closet will be no fun. i'm 30 years old now for chrissakes! still, i've got to do something meaningful with my life. it cannot all be about booze, drugs, hooking up, and paying everyone's rent when they're broke. things have got to change.

i cracked open A Catcher in the Rye yesterday before the party and read some of my favorite parts. what an inspiration! seriously, that is a classic novel. it is packed with meaning. i'm twice caulfield's age but i still somehow connect with him in a very direct way. my life is going to change and the attitude expressed in that book is at the heart of that change. i love you, holden caulfied. it's not too late for me to learn from you, to find some meaning in life.

journal entry

today i am 35 years old. another intense, sad, but deeply fulfilling week has passed. every day something meaningful happens, something so emotional and real. sometimes i find myself just losing it in a fetal position because of the things i've seen. working with people who are drug addicted or who have been abused or who are dying is HEAVY. but it is also beautiful. it's hard to believe i am dealing with all of that and supporting my folks too. thank God i have good friends to talk to about these things. anyway. so now marcy wants to have a kid. i just don't know how i feel about that. this is such a fucked up world, do we really want to bring new life into it? i dunno. it seems....selfish, somehow. she should just quit her job with the d.a.'s office and get back to her roots in the public defender's office instead. does she think that having a child with me will bring more meaning into her life? my life has meaning enough already. and i really am not sure i can handle that responsibility on top of everything else.

i skimmed A Catcher in the Rye yesterday, after an awkward talk with marcy about having a baby. it was not an inspiring read. caulfield is so full of misplaced angst! i'm not sure i even understand him anymore. why is he so pissed off? he's seen nothing of the world and what the world can actually do to people. i want to like him, i want to re-capture that feeling of affection i had for him, but now his contempt and his anger just seem so meaningless, so naive. he really does not have it so bad. there is so much worse out there. i don't know how i would handle a kid like that. i hate to say it, but i constantly rolled my eyes when reading it. oh the emotional self-absorption of youth! just you wait, caulfield. it sure gets a hell of a lot more complicated once you grow up.

journal entry

today i am 40 years old. when did i become a boss? it is like i woke up one day, mysteriously transformed into an old man. am i really a "leader"? what does that even mean? sometimes i feel like i am just faking it all and someone is going to figure it out and blow the whistle on me. last week i made a huge play on the Council, i had all my ducks in a row, and all the votes came in just as i had planned. everyone has their own agenda and the way to get things done is simply to recognize and engage with that disappointing fact. some folks got up and started clapping and then the whole room joined in, even council members who voted against my motion - feh, phonies. the experience was sort of amazing but it also made me feel very odd, almost disconnected from myself. is this who i am now, a public policy figure, a community advocate, a mayoral appointee? ugh, i can't stand the mayor. i don't feel like me. there is accomplishment there, and some satisfaction... but i am missing something, something visceral, something real. sweet Jesus, is this what a mid-life crisis feels like? it is a weird feeling, like i know everything that i need to know about the world, about the people around me, how everything connects, but yet i still feel like i know so little about life. oh, such angst, mark. surely you've outgrown this?

i've started re-reading A Catcher in the Rye. it's so strange, during different parts, i felt like crying. a wonderful and moving novel. i feel like i really understand holden, like he is my guide, my son, my brother, my friend... myself. i think of him and i know that change in the world and changing myself can still happen. it just has to happen. that's life after all, right?

Sooo my least favorite classic just became a new favorite?!?!? *calls a therapist*

(Torn between 4 and 5 stars

Well, it ain't Huck Finn. But if you're thinkin' glass-half-full, it ain't Vernon God Little neither.

Cynical?

Am I too cynical for this book?

This narrative is just ranty and not good in a good snarky sarcastic way. Because that would need charm and this guy, Holden, got none. His voice was so devoid of hilarity. So... just annoying then.


*dnf*

There are some areas in this book that we might question the actions of Holden, especially if we reread this book after we have grown up. But still, I think that this is one of the best coming of age novels I was lucky enough to read in my life.

n  n    “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” n  n

كلنا هولدن كولفيلد، أو زيف المجتمع، مجتمع الزيف
ـــــ
قبل أن أقرأ هذه الرواية تكوّن لدى عنها صورة أسطورية كعمل بيع منه 65 مليون نسخة منذ طبعته الأولى عام 1951 حتى الآن و تصنيفه كانجيل لجيل الغاضبين و الساخطين فى أمريكا..كما أن المنفى الإختيارى الذى اختاره المؤلف" جيروم ديفيد سالنجر" لينزوى فيه بعيدا عن المدينة فى بيئة ريفية حتى مماته هذا العام و امتناعه عن نشر أى مخطوطاته الذى سطرها فى عزلته ..و منعه تحويل روايته لعمل سينمائى طالما هو على قيد الحياة..- كل ذلك اضافة إلى أن نسخة كتابه كانت بحوزة قاتل مغنى البيتلز الشهير" جون لينون" و تصريحه بأنها كانت حجته فى القتل..كل ذلك أضاف للعمل بعدا أسطوريا..و انتظرت ان تكون الرواية قد صيغت بأسلوب سرد مركب و بأسلوب تغلب عليه الصيغة الفلسفية أو عمل يسمى بالأساس كتاب أفكار تتخذها الأجيال كمانشيتات و مبادىء تسير عليها...لكنى وجدت العمل قد كتب ببساطة و فى نفس الوقت بعمق لم أكن أتوقع ان تأتى بهذا الشكل.

بداية الرواية بضمير المتكلم، يحاول الراوى خلق صديق افتراضى يتحدث اليه بين حين وآخر، من الممكن أن يكون أنا أو أنت أو انتِ...كأنه بذلك يحاول كسر حاجز الوحده و العزلة التى فرضت عليه أو فرضها على نفسه جرّاء سخطه و نقمته على المجتمع.

الرواية تتخللها شتائم آتية من فتى مراهق..ربما لم تمر صفحة إلا و حلاّها بشتيمة له أو لغيره..كاسرا بها حاجز المجتمع المثالى المحافظ..ليقول أننا رغم ذلك لم نكن أبدا مثاليين ..ربما ندعى المثالية و من الإدعاء يتخلق الزيف كقنبلة عنقودية.

فتى مراهق يرسب فى مدرسته و يتنقل من مدرسة لخرى..و لا يجد غير الزيف فى زملائه العاطلين عن أى موهبة و الحمقى الذين يحاولون استعراض مواهبهم فى علاقات عاطفية فاشلة و تفوقهم فى مواد دراسية مملة و غير جديرة بالنفع تبعث على الغثيان...و مدرسين يدّعون الحكمة و تتجمد عقولهم على تفاصيل موادهم الدراسية الذين يدرسونها بميكانيكية بغيضة..آه نعم كذلك فى الشارع و الفنادق التى ارتادها مهجورا من المجتمع بارادته و الفتيات اللاتى صاحبهن فى المسارح أو السينمات او سائقى التاكسيات ..كلهم يضعون موادا تجميلية على وجوههم..و يضعون أقنعة تخفى باطنهم الحقيقى و المزيف...يفتعلون السعادة و يرصعون حياتهم بلآلىء التقوى و اتباح الرب فى جميع خطواتهم حتى لو لم يكونوا متدينين أصلا.

لم يكن سخطه أبدا مكتملا...خرج من دائرة السخط أخته الصغيرة فيب و أخوه المتوفى صغيرا" آلى" كبراءة تتبدّى فى الطفولة التى لم تتدنس بعد و لم تظهر عليها أعراض الحضارة...كانت مقاطع شاعرية جدا و حيوية و مليئة بالعاطفة الفياضة عندما يتحدث عن أخته فيب و أخيه آلى الذى مات صغيرا..كأنه هو العالم الذى يريده و الذى كان يريد أن يهرب اليه عند حافة المدينة يعمل أى عمل..كعامل بنزين مثلا.. مدعيا أنه اخرس و أبكم.. حتى يوفر عليه الكلمات الزائفة التى تصدر عن الزبائن أو الجيران...لكنه تنازل عن حلمه فى النهاية لصالح اخته التى كانت تريد أن تهرب معه...رضى بما هو واقع ...و انخرط فى عداد حضارة الأرقام..كلنا مجرد رقم فى بطاقة فى ملف فى أجهزة حكومية عتيقة تتحكم بمصائرنا...الرقم جاء الرقم راح..الرقم ...عليه العوض.