Holden, chill out!

I just finished The Catcher in the Rye. I had to read a lot of classic novels in my English classes, but The Catcher in the Rye was never one of them. I've been trying to read classic novels when I can. 

I have to say ... I wanted to knock Holden Caulfield out most of the time. Really! I haven't heard a bigger whiner or a bigger rambler in my life. He hated everything, or everything drove him crazy. And the minutiae! The things he found bothersome! How could anyone stand to be around that guy?

Now of course, the poor guy had mental problems about a mile long. 

Then ... the more I thought about it and was honest with myself ... the more I realized that in many ways, I can be like him. I certainly have plenty of things in my life I can fix or make better, but I choose to be very judgmental of others sometimes instead. Where's the fairness in that? 

And when you get through the muck of his thoughts, Caulfield really does have some good points. About phony people, about ruining things, about not being able to truly find peace anywhere. It's all valid. 

There's a sense of accomplishment when you read a book like The Catcher in the Rye. And you always wish you had paid more attention to the classics when you had to read them in school. But that sort of hindsight isn't anything new.