• hactar42@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    I’m curious at what age you read it. Because I first read it at 15 and thought it was the best book ever. I would even recommend it to people for years.

    Then I read it again in my late 20s and had the same reaction you did. I thought he just came off as a whiny little shit. I still feel embarrassed that I recommended that book to people for over 10 years.

    I remember telling my wife this after I reread it (she was someone I recommended it to) and she was like, “yeah, I didn’t want to say anything at the time, but I hated it.”

    • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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      23 days ago

      When I was 13 I thought “You go Holden! Tell off all those phonies!” At 18 I thought “This whiny asshole won’t stfu.” Then as an adult I realized “Oh, poor kid was dealing with a lot of unaddressed trauma.”

      • hactar42@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        Then as an adult I realized “Oh, poor kid was dealing with a lot of unaddressed trauma.”

        I hadn’t thought of that angel before. That’s actually a really good way to look it.

    • VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      23 days ago

      It was the end of 9th grade, so I was 15 or 16. I read it immediately after To Kill a Mockingbird, which did not make it look good in comparison 😂