I think he perfectly captured that feeling of being lost that we all experience as teenagers. Before him, fiction was just fiction to me: storytelling. Catcher in the Rye showed me how a good writer can blur the lines and hold up a mirror that lets the reader see himself in the tale.
I think that's one of the things that made his work so impressive was that even after all this time Caulfield still has that effect on teenagers who read it for the first time. Thank you Mr Salinger and may you rest in peace.
There aren't a lot of timeless novels out there. He deserves whatever peace he finds for writing that one.
Definitely.. it wasn't fiction.. it was real experiences and emotions disguised as--or in the form of, rather--words...
Yes. Key word: real.
And the carousel.. the goddam rain too.. it made me cry the way it made Holden cry...
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It has been way too long since I reread this. I should make a vow to read it once every two years as a reminder of what great writing can inspire in a reader.