It's time to announce the November pick for the Classics Book Club.
Drum roll.............
We'll be considering the classic American novel, Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger.
One question we might ask is: With the recent surge in popularity of young adult novels (or, at least, fiction with protagonists who are in their teens and early 20s) what place does Catcher have in the genre?
Hi Connie!
First of all I love this month's pick! Concerning your question, I think The Catcher goes further in the popularity of YA novels. I find a lack of deepness on these protagonists' construction, which doesn't happen with Holden. In my opinion he is a very complex character compared to today's teenagers protagonists. He is someone we love and hate at the same time, someone clever and conscious about people, places and life itself. Nowadays characters seem weak in emotion, point of view and reality evaluation. Of course this can sound very dissonant once these characters are just teenagers, but I also find teens to be very intelligent and people with strong opinions. They are discovering so many things about life and having many different experiences, so why to be represented naively?
In addition, Holden has a sense of achievement through experience and decision what makes him more mature, even if he is in his teens.
Thanks for the choice 
Rosei wrote:
Hi Connie!
First of all I love this month's pick! Concerning your question, I think The Catcher goes further in the popularity of YA novels. I find a lack of deepness on these protagonists' construction, which doesn't happen with Holden. In my opinion he is a very complex character compared to today's teenagers protagonists. He is someone we love and hate at the same time, someone clever and conscious about people, places and life itself. Nowadays characters seem weak in emotion, point of view and reality evaluation. Of course this can sound very dissonant once these characters are just teenagers, but I also find teens to be very intelligent and people with strong opinions. They are discovering so many things about life and having many different experiences, so why to be represented naively?
In addition, Holden has a sense of achievement through experience and decision what makes him more mature, even if he is in his teens.
Thanks for the choice
Thank you, Rosei! I hope we can talk more about this. I like your point and am going to move your post also over to a thread on the topic. Welcome!
