J.D. Salinger passes away.

[Trekker4747]

R.I.P.

LINK

J.D. Salinger, author of "The Catcher in the Rye" and other books, has died, according to his literary agent, Phyllis Westberg. He was 91.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Damn.

 

[D Man]

I've always secretly hoped that he has an enormous amount of additional material written about the Glass family stored away somewhere that someone will find someday. RIP Mr. Salinger.

 

[Meredith]

To re-post a Meme, RIP JD.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Sad to hear that. Catcher in the Rye remains one of my favorite books of all time.

 

[Roshi]

^Ditto, Alidar!

The Catcher in the Rye is the very first book in English language that I have ever read through and through.

RIP JD.

 

[Bloodwhiner]

I wrote four separate papers on Catcher during my school years, I got to know it so well that I raised a basic deduction that no one in the college lit department had ever noted before.

Some are already calling for his unreleased material to be published. Out of respect to Salinger, I hope they never publish his remaining works or make Catcher into a movie. If he wanted either, he would have done it.

"Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody."
The Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield in Chapter 20
​

RIP Mr. Salenger, tell old Allie hi.

 

[SeerSGB]

RIP Mr. Salinger, the literary world is a little less bright for your passing.

 

[Red Ranger]

Wow, sorry to hear. I know I have a copy of The Catcher in the Rye somewhere. I'll have to reread it know.

 

[Trippy]

Catcher is required reading in the eleventh grade at our school, and our students were always surprised that he was still alive.

He lived a good, long and a much desired private life

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Is it heresy to say I really didn't care for Catcher In The Rye when I read it? It might have something to do with the fact that I didn't read it as a teenager, but was in my early 20's when I did. Strange because I was an angry, disaffected youth and thought I would relate to the book, but I remember thinking Holden didn't necessarily have a justification for his outlook on the world and that made him more immature than wise.

 

[Sky]

The Onion published a very appropriate obituary:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bunch_of_phonies_mourn_j_d

I adored The Catcher in the Rye, but then again I was 14 when I read it - just the right age. Later I much preferred Franny and Zooey.

 

[CaptainCanada]

I thought The Catcher in the Rye was heinously overrated when I read it in school. Part of that, probably, was whatever made it unique at its time of publication being so thoroughly absorbed into the mainstream.

Regardless, he was undeniably a hugely influential author. RIP.

I agree on his unpublished materials remaining so; I greatly dislike whenever people leave diaries, etc. with orders to burn them and instead they get put on display for all to see.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Is it heresy to say I really didn't care for Catcher In The Rye when I read it? It might have something to do with the fact that I didn't read it as a teenager, but was in my early 20's when I did. Strange because I was an angry, disaffected youth and thought I would relate to the book, but I remember thinking Holden didn't necessarily have a justification for his outlook on the world and that made him more immature than wise.

I think the book is misunderstood by some people as I've read it twice (once in grade 12, for school and about 3 years ago at age 33) and my idea is that Caulfield is not to be admired at all and that he is in fact the biggest phoney.
He's like Archie Bunker. He was created to show flaws in that type of person, but people still admired him anyway.

 

[Bloodwhiner]

The was an article just in the last year or so that reported lit teachers saying the book was losing relevancy to todays youth. Holden Caulfield was seen as a whiny child who the readers couldn't stand and took nothing from. Unfortunately I can't find a cyber version of it.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The Onion published a very appropriate obituary:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bunch_of_phonies_mourn_j_d

Wow, that's just perfect.

 

[ThankQ]

Sad to hear that. Catcher in the Rye remains one of my favorite books of all time.

Been about 15 years since I've read it, but I recall one bit (maybe not entirely correctly) with Holden's sister running after him with suitcases in her hands that made me, literally, weap.

 

[T'Baio]

Yeah, I think I must have read it too late in life.

Holden just seemed like a little bitch, to me.

 

[Canadave]

Yeah, I think I must have read it too late in life.

Holden just seemed like a little bitch, to me.

I don't know, I read it as a teenager and I just couldn't connect with it either. I just found Holden to be an unsympathetic, whiny character.

RIP, Mr. Salinger, though. He had a lot of impact on a lot of people, if not me.

 

[ThankQ]

Taste is a funny thing. So many saying, "meh, crap", yet this is one of the few books I've read in one sitting.

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."

.