Catcher In The Rye

My book club discussed Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger last night.  This is an old classic about an angsty teenage boy named Holden Caufield.  I think if Holden were alive today, he would wear a lot of black clothes and would end his facebook posts with the three letters "FML."  I am always sad to see FML on a post.  Holden is a typical teen.  Everything is so important.  His thinking comes in black or in white.  His biggest beef are phonies.  He hates phonies.  Yet he pretends to be all kinds of people to strangers he meets.  He lies outrageously and makes up crazy stories much like a phony would.  Holden is failing out of his third prep school.  He comes from a family that has plenty of money but is short on familial acceptance and connection and communication.  Holden makes a mistake listening to the lyrics of the song "When A Body Meets A Body Coming Through The Rye."  His ultimate goal is to be a hero catching people who are running through a field of rye and about to fall off a cliff.  Much of our discussion last night was about the author.  Salinger was a famous recluse who evidently suffered from battle fatigue after WWII.  As he aged, his concept of the ideal woman stayed the same age and he was involved with women who were subsequently 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years younger than him.  He got involved in macrobiotics, Scientology, and various religions.  He ended up being one strange dude who, they say, drank his own urine for health reasons.  If you haven't read Catcher In The Rye yet, I would.  It's a short book and Holden Caufield is a compelling character.