I first read "Catcher in the Rye" when I was 13 or 14. That over thirty years ago. I understood Holden and fell in love with the book instantly.
That you don't understand Holden may be a good thing. It also puts you in lock-step with the latest trend. The New York Times posted an article last year titled, "Get a Life, Holden Caulfield."
www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/weekinreview/21schuessler.html "Teachers say teenagers just don't like Holden as much as they used to."
Like I said, that could be a good thing
I read the article, I don't feel quite like that about Holden. I do get the world rejection, the confusion, depression, "soul searching", etc. But I think he can be very contradicctory, he complains about people's fakeness, but he lies all of the time, he wants interesting conversations, again, he lies most of the time when is having a conversation with someone. The reason why he seems to like Phoebe a lot, besides she being smart, I think is because she's very honest, like any kid of that age, the kind of honesty he can't find anywhere else, but, again, he lies most of the time. There's no consistency beteween what he thinks and what he does. He can get shallow, picky, snobby, that´s why I can't relate to him, or feel sympathy.
And, there's also the fact, like the artcile says, that is not very clear if he´s "crazy", which would make a lot much sense.
