I am having a really hard time comprehending anything that happens in this book. I have started to think that everything Holden says is a lie. Because I think everything is a lie, I start to wonder what is really happening. My brain keeps saying "Maybe this is happening" or "He probably did that but doesn't want us to know". I am thinking about all this other crap when suddenly I realize that I am 4 pages farther than I remembered being. I have to go back and re-read everything because my mind wanders. Since there is no strict storyline, my brain doesn't have anything to focus on. The compliation of random stories with no apparent goal in mind forces me to wonder what the whole point is and not understand anything I am actually reading.
The basic outline of the story reminds me a lot of Huckleberry Finn. Both stories involve a boy going off on his own with absolutely no plan. Huck has a bunch of small adventures as he travels down the mississippi; the same way that Holden has them as he travels around New York. Both boys just wanted to get away from it all and live on their own. The stories are very similar, and I wouldn't be surprised if Salinger got a lot of the ideas for this novel from Huck Finn.
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I agree with how frustrating it is to not have a plot. It makes me wonder why we are even reading this book.
ReplyDeleteI zone out while reading this book too, trying to understand if any of this is a true story or not.
I think that he stretches the truth or just hides what really happened. He just says what he should have done, maybe not what he actually did.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI find that my mind travels as well. Without any plot twists or action in the book I just can't seem to stay focused on what Holden is writing about and I think everything he says is just a lie and I wonder if he is just making up what happens in the places he's been to cover up what he actually did during that time period.
Good post, Brian. Now that you've read the entire novel, do you feel that Holden is still lying about a great deal, or even the majority, of the experience? Even if he isn't lying, he may well be misinterpreting what's actually happening. That's the fun of an unreliable narrator, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteKeep on bloggin'!