When I read Catcher in the Rye, my life changed. From that point on, I had to read everything Salinger wrote and was not disappointed until Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, and Seymour: an Introduction. But it was worth the journey, considering Fitzgerald led me down a similar path until I got to the Pat Hobby Stories.
Now, I’ve read all the novels on Burt’s 100 Greatest Novels Of All Time list – but of course, at different times in my life. And although Catcher changed my life, I would hesitate to read it again today for fear the magic wouldn’t be the same. Reading at a certain age can be life-changing. Portnoy’s Complaint – though not life-changing – was eye-opening yes – to the power of the emotive written word – but not life-changing. But Portnoy’s I can read again and again and marvel at the comic timing and overall comic changes – like a great symphony that only escalates – whether classic or modern – like Age of Aquarius or Light My Fire – that builds and builds on the previous – only to go one step higher into a different realm. My only disappointment with Portnoy’s was what seemed a forced ending to tie it together thematically. E.g., his trip to Israel. Which worked well on that level – but didn’t on the comedic expectations I had been so primed for. Nor did it go inside me the way Catcher did. More like watching a great stand-up comedian whose monologue is without equal but never quite struck on that deepest level. Catcher was ranked 94, but in terms of my personal reaction – nothing else came close. Many moved me – even to tears – or anger – or any number of emotions – but the difference was – I WAS Holden at that age. 10 years later, I wasn’t. Like many older people who read it for the first time, I might have found him too annoying to relate to. Not that that’s necessarily a factor either – because I was brought to tears and anger when I read Tess of the d’urbervilles- and I’m not a woman. Nor do I even agree with Hardy’s cosmology. Or, for that matter, with Roth’s or Portnoy’s.
In any event, some novels were special in that time of my life as they are with everyone’s. War and Peace and Crime and Punishment were both read during a cold New England winter when I was a young man and for those few weeks that I read them, I was Raskolnikov, Pierre, Prince Bolkonsky, the same way I was Jimmy Porter when I read Look Back in Anger when I was an angry young man. (see pgs. 1-666)
Ergo: Confessions is not for everyone! So before you invest your time, not your money – $19.95 for a book of such magnitude (color artwork, etc.) is cheap, but your time is not – therefore, go back and read those posts first. Then decide. Start with the Roman numeral I.