Catcher In the Rye.

I finished reading the entire book weeks ago, and I really truly enjoyed it. It was such an easy read and so absorbing. I felt immediately connected with Holden, although I don't know if I would actually like to know him in real life if I could. However, my favorite component to the novel was how blunt and honest Holden always was. He said a lot of things that people tend to think of, but fear to express outwardly. His honesty was crude and sarcastic, but often so appropriate. The way he spoke to the people he was not fond of made me smile because he was just so witty with his choice of words and emphasis. I loved Holden's standards and views on many things. For example, he mentioned something about how "the least he could do was be nice to her after she let him get sexy with him". I thought this was very funny and although, poorly phrased in my opinion, very true and often overlooked by guys that age. His opinion of his school, his roommates and his classmates was also very negative and frankly, appropriate. Holden seemed to be surrounded with a lot of pressures as well competitive classmates, so much so that he resorted to rebellious (illegal) behaviors and habits. These rebellious behaviors hooked my interest whether he was at the bar, smoking a cigarette, departing from his shelter, or getting into a rowdy fight. Lastly, I personally was attracted to Holden's natural talent with dealing with children. He had an exclusive relationship with his younger sister, Phoebe. I felt that this reflected a sense of maturity and sensitivity from him. I loved her contributions to the conversations they had because she seemed more grounded than he was, and seemed to keep her older brother in line. Their conversations were also humorous at times because she was so sassy and immature, while he too, was immature and sarcastic. There was one setting where Holden was at a museum with two young stranger boys and Holden kept them occupied and had a natural gift with communicating with them. Holden's lazy, lonely, blunt, rebellious, invincible and sarcastic attitude was very amusing to me. There's not much I would change of the book at all. It was a pleasure to read.