Grade Ten - Catcher in the Rye

One of my favourite books that was introduced to me in class was probably not one I would have picked up on my own. I can distinctly remember gradually discovering the character of Holden Caulfield, and the way his school could relate to Ridley. It didn’t matter where we were supposed to read up to in that book, I was always chapters ahead. I couldn’t put it down. The story was fantastic. I remember learning about the controversy surrounding the book, and it being removed from schools. Supposedly it was the book that motivated John Lennon’s killer. While reading it, fifteen year old me was waiting for this vulgar awful truth or horrible thing Holden would do that would just mess a person up. It turns out there was just a hooker, and some bad language. It was cool how just as Holden was discovering this abundance of independence, I was going through the same sort of stage. I wasn’t running around New York, per say, but I was dealing with a lot more independence than I was used to. In that way, Holden became so much more real to me.