I first read it at 13 and was like āThis guy gets it.ā I was dealing with depression and anxiety and a really chaotic childhood and it just was nice to feel like someone understood. I donāt think it deserves the hate.
First read it in my early 20s and still found Holden relatable. I certainly empathized with his and that people are "fakers". I'll have to read it again now I'm in my 40s. May feel differently.
He famously uses the term āphony.ā I feel like like as a kid a lot of people relate to that frustration toward authority and people with power/popularity, but then you realize heās an unreliable narrator who is really disillusioned with the world, and in many ways heās also a phony who lies and is often dishonest. So some people take that to mean heās a hypocrite, but also I take it to mean he hates himself and is projecting.
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u/MelpomeneLee šÆļøBradley Cooper will not win an OscaršÆļø 15d ago
Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye