# Don't like Catcher in the Rye?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-like-catcher-in-the-rye/156929>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 23, 2003, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-like-catcher-in-the-rye/156929 "2003-02-23T06:22:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-like-catcher-in-the-rye/156929/1 "2003-02-23T06:22:12Z")

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I’ve noticed that a lot of people here mention CITR as a book they can’t stand. What I wonder is, what did you expect from it?

I’ve read it numerous times, and I think it’s hilarious. Not unintentionally hilarious either; not like a Bulwer-Lytton. Sure, Holden is a whiner, but that’s why he’s funny. Almost all the characters are painted broadly, and they’re funny, too. Spencer, Ackley, Stradlater, the cab driver, Luce, Antolini…There are at least six scenes that I can’t read without laughing myself into a fit. (“They simply regard sex as both a physical and a spiritual experience. That’s all.” “So do I! So do I regard it as a waddyacallit—a physical and spiritual experience and all!..Maybe I’ll go to China. My sex life is lousy.”)

I will admit, I get impatient with people who think it’s the be-all end-all. Or who think HC, or Salinger himself, is some kind of pure soul who’s the only one who understands anything. But I also get impatient with people who didn’t realize **Heathers** was a satire. So does anyone else see the humor in CITR?

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**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-like-catcher-in-the-rye/156929/2 "2003-02-23T14:14:26Z")

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I saw the humor as dark humor, which can turn many people off. I liked the book, by the way.

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**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-like-catcher-in-the-rye/156929/3 "2003-02-23T14:27:32Z")

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Although I don’t think _Catcher_ is the greatest book of all time or anything, I like it quite a bit and have read it several times.