The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

For years I heard about how this book was quite controversial when it was released (in 1951) and how it remains banned from some schools. When I picked it up I was expecting to read a shocking tale of violence and sex and drugs. Instead, I found a moving first-person account of a frustrated teen who finds himself thrown out of yet another school for simply failing to give a crap.

Given that I’m prone to seeing parallels in literature, I found myself thinking often of Holden Caulfield as a parallel worlds version of young Owen Meaney. Their internal narrative and thought process seemed quite similar in their frustration with people who are phony or otherwise lacking in an essential character trait.

Yet, where Owen channeled his frustration and energy into his studies and quickly rose to the top of his class academically (but was still unbelievably socially awkward), Holden rejects the whole damn system and runs away both figuratively and literally, tragically unaware that his actions are about to irreversibly change his entire life’s trajectory.

The fact that this book was/is banned strikes me as sadly narrow-minded. Some news reports I’ve read say that “The Catcher in the Rye is perennially banned because Holden Caulfield is said to be an unsuitable role model.” This is idiotic. The whole point of the story is that he may have legitimate beefs about society and school but his response to his situation is quite destructive.

The fact that the book has lots of swear words and descriptions of the main character getting drunk should make it all the more interesting to kids. When my boys are old enough to read I will absolutely let them read it and then we will talk about how life likely turned out for Holden depending on what he did after the book ended.