The Catcher in the Rye

I read "The Catcher in the Rye" last year in my English 3 class. It is a pretty fast read, but it is one that I think that no one should go without reading at some point. There is not much of a plot; its mostly just the main character, Holden, ranting about growing up.
I fell in love with Holden. His spirit captivated me as a reader. He makes observations about the world and its injustices in a way that is so relate able to teenagers and adults alike. He runs away from his private school to try to experience what the "real world" is like. He vocalized almost everything that I want or think and he expresses his opinion about the pressure that is placed on teenagers to figure out what they want to do or be.

"But what I mean is, lots of time you don't know what interests you most till you start talking about something that doesn't interest you most. I mean you can't help it sometimes. What I think is, you're supposed to leave somebody alone if he's at least being interesting and he's getting all excited about something. I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice."

I love the little observations he makes. I am a people watcher and I adore seeing people being passionate about something. It was comforting to see a book published in 1951 validate everything you feel.

The last line of the book left me with chills.

"If you want to know the truth, I don't know what I think about it. I'm sorry I told so many people about it. About all I know is, I sort of miss everybody I told about. Even old Stradlater and Ackley, for instance. I think I even miss that goddam Maurice. It's funny. Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."