Reviews go that this is a great novel, it is one of the best ever written, depicts New York in that time perfectly; so on and so on but this gets a solid "it was okay" from me. I disliked Holden Caulfield too much to enjoy it. If Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter) was a lead in a book I still think I would dislike Holden Caulfield more.

I struggled with rating this book, it is one of the few this year I could probably write a longer review on. Because it made me feel something it should get a higher star rating. On the other hand Holden didn't grow as a character. He dislikes people because they are phoney and not intellectual enough for him, but I like to believe that everyone else is smart enough to realize Holden is a lazy, unmotivated drop-out and is not worth their time to socialize with. And still Holden is too dense to understand why he can't integrate in society.

A morbid part of me wanted Holden to run through Central Park in a drunken stupor, sit down on a bench and freeze to death; at least he would no longer be a strain on his parents and whatever "friends" he had. Instead he hits rock bottom, ends up out west where everyone is phoney and that's that. That kills me.