Read This; Then go Read the Book

"The Catcher in the Rye" is a book about a 17 year old Holden Caulfield telling his own story about when he was a 16 year old Holden Caulfield. Holden has just been kicked out Pencey Prep and has decided to live back in New York for a couple of days before returning home. Throughout the whole book we are captivated by the use of passive language which connects us with Holden by helping us relate to lost feeling of our innocence. Holden is fighting the "noble" cause of trying to keep innocence alive, since he himself is growing up. The entire book Holden is trying to make sense of this loss of innocence and come to terms with it and he constantly asking other adults to "listen" to him but is constantly turned away and is therefore sent into a state of depression and makes up his mind that all adults are "phonies." This is something I personally relate with. I am transitioning into the adult world and find myself so lost and wanting to slip back into the innocence and youth I once had and kept a loose grip on. Holden is feeling the same way he states in the book,

"You think you’re special because you’ve been trusted with this responsibility. That only you could be capable with handling. You actually feel grateful. 
You wake yourself up in the morning, get dressed, wake up your siblings, go to school without ever seeing a parent.
You feel so fucking entitled and you love it.
You love listening to your mom’s marital problems.
You love having to pay for your own shampoo and food.
You love buying your own school clothes.
You love driving yourself to after school activities You love seeing everybody else’s families show up to support them.
Then one day you don’t love it anymore.
One day you’re 17 and you realize you’ve been robbed.
You realize that when you were taking care of your siblings and your parents and your friends that no one ever took care of you.
You realize that you stopped eating and no one noticed. You realize no one noticed the evenly spaced battle wounds placed on your body.  When you make it your job to take care of everyone in your life, you never learn how to take care of yourself."

This book is  a great read for all ages and I would suggest for any readers interested in a twist of linguistic technique, but i will say the teenagers would relate well with this book due to it's angst against adulthood. All in all "The Catcher in the Rye" is intellectually deepening read and will keep you reading wondering why you are so interested in a boy who just bought a red hunting cap for $1.