In the meantime, consider this:
Kip on The Catcher in the Rye:
This is a dangerous book. It played a role in the shootings of both Reagan and John Lennon. Scary, huh? I didn't know that literature could be so powerful. I think it's the line about: "This is a people-shooting hat. I shoot people in this hat." Some people are nuts and go around shooting people because of books, while the rest of us just enjoy the pretty words in our heads. Anyway, the book is also important, especially to young boys. It's about Holden Caulfield and how he hates "phonies." As a young man from Ft. Scott, I can totally relate. After spending time on the farm with genuine country people who always say what they mean (usually involving cows or the weather), I come to Lawrence and things feel phony,with rich kids posing as hippies and discussing "philosophy" and "art." But I connect on other levels too. Holden "makes out" with a lot of girls in the book, as I do too in real life, once at the bar in Quinton's. And he has a tendency to romanticize and fall in love with all of them. There's not much plot in the book, which annoys me a little. The best books have plots and resolutions in which a marriage occurs or the killer is revealed. Holden just kind of wanders around New York and then goes home to see his sister Phoebe. Once he sees a "fuck you" written on the wall and wishes he could erase every one in the world, I guess because society has gotten so vulgar, which I also believe and is quite apparent if you look around at all the video games and internets we love so well. I recommend this book to anyone except potential murderers.
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