Catcher in the Rye

I never had to read this book. I don’t know how hyped this was. But a lot of times that I see a “criticism”, it’s akin to ‘hot take: it’s just a boring overrated, overhyped, story about whiny, spoiled well-to-do, brat’... as if that has never been said. I know I haven’t read the book but I have a strong feeling that that is a really reductive, surface level “criticism”. Just a feeling.

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Doomflower · 36-40, M

Probably.

It's a bit like the great Gatsby. There's a lot of meat to the book and the themes and characters and what it all means below the surface but it rings boring and hollow to a lot of us. To me both stories seem pretentious. They are too complex and nuanced to jump out and yell "Ask me what it means!" so we geniuses don't get it.