The Catcher in the....Wait, why did I like this book again?

I have to say, I was excited when I saw The Catcher in the Rye on our reading list. I remember reading this book in middle school and falling in love with it, however the details of the book were rather vague in my mind. I always wanted to come back to it, fall in love with the book all over again. Sadly, that isn't turning out to be the case. I find myself wondering why I even liked this book at all and how could I have possibly related to Holden?! I even find myself disliking his character, thinking that if I knew a kid like him I wouldn't want anything to do with him let alone relate to him. Maybe this is just me, but I also can't stand that Holden has to repeat "I'm not kidding" after almost everything he says.

I'm realizing though that people don't need too much controversy to be afraid of something, to feel the need to ban and censor it from their world. Whether it is a book about two gay penguins, a play that requires an all black cast, or a 17 year old boy who talks about sex, drinking, and death, people will feel threatened. I guess it doesn't matter that we are faced with these realities everyday, it only matters when we write about them. I still don't get it though. I guess censorship through writing is just another attack on black people, on gay couples, on the corrupted youth in the world.

This makes me wonder at the same time though, why did I think The Catcher in the Rye was so appealing? For me, it was probably just Salinger's realist approach with Holden's character. I say realist approach because although some of the things he does are completely out of the ordinary (like call up a hooker, drive around in a taxi cab late at night, drink at a bar), he still shows raw emotion and gives us his upfront opinion about everything. It's almost like Holden had no external fear, and I guess I related to that or at least was interested by it. Kind of like how I wanted to be like Max from Where The Wild Things Are. Then again, I was probably tired of all the overly fairy tale crap that schools shove down your throat, and the cynicism of Holden appealed to me.