JD Salinger

[lagilman]

On this day in 1986, we lost the crew --and the dream -- of Challenger.

Today we have lost J.D. Salinger, who has died at age 91 -- although some might say we lost him long before, to his own quirks and traumas. Loved or loathed, his work -- most famously Catcher in the Rye --changed the game in ways most writers only dream about.



(I loathed CitR, btw. Thought the writing was brilliant but so relentlessly negative and unlikeable that you took nothing away save a sense of grimy displeasure. I feel much the same way about Bret Easton Ellis, yes. Like HEAs, there's only so much dispirited self- and species-specific hatred I can handle before I go "enough already, I got it., thanks")

Comments

[lagilman]

I have an unproven suspicion that if you're over a certain age, CitR was an eye-opening revelation of a groundbreaker, and if you're under that age, it was the granddaddy of an entire movement where there should only have been an effective trickle. It can make a huge difference to how you approach a book, especially as a teenager.

[lagilman]

we're a month apart in age, so that supports my theory... *grin*

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

Over on another forum, someone in their 60s just told me I was "too young to appreciate" the book, b/c by the time I came along, there were plenty of other coming-of-age stories out there.

I'm not sure I buy that.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

Holden never comes of age. He's just a jerk. Scalzi has a wonderful description of him somewhere on his blog as a 50 year old alcoholic advertising exec on his third marriage.

I think the key is more what type of reader you are rather than what generation you are or how old you were when you read the book. If you're a genre reader, chances are you read books where the spunky young heroine or hero actually deals with their problem rather than whine about it. If you prefer a more introspective book you probably appreciate the whining.