Something about 'The Catcher In The Rye'

Something about 'The Catcher In The Rye'  

These two dialogues are from the movie 'Rebel In The Rye' based on the book J. D. Salinger: A Life by Kenneth Slawenski. Then read just about how everyone had an opinion about this book. Before it was published. 

"We both think it has a lot of problems. I just don't buy Holden.  He's so negative all the time. It just doesn't feel real. I also think you're trying to be too clever on every page. The writer's trying to be too witty. I would hate for the book to throw away all the goodwill you have. The best I can tell you is to keep the book in the drawer for a year or two."

"My boss didn't get it. But I fought for it and he said he'd be willing to publish your novel if you did a major rewrite. He just doesn't understand Holden Caulfield. He doesn't know what makes him tick. I gotta admit, I found him confusing at times. He hates everything. And he's always so sarcastic."

That's the New Yorker wise arses and then added to, by the publisher. Being in a position to decide gave some of them the right to offer opinions.

The future-author's school teacher is the first one to tell him, "That character deserves a whole novel." And an Indian sadhu sees him through to the end of the novel. He continue writing it when he was sent to Normandy and had the book with him in the trenches. 

And then a small publisher finally weighs in, "...it's an American masterpiece."  

The author was asked if it's a war story. To which he replies - "No it's about a troubled kid during the Christmas holidays." 

The best part of this novel. Not once do you have an idea how the character and narrator of the masterpiece looks like. No one till date would tell you how he might look like. That's exactly how the author wanted him to be. To be left to the reader's imagination. 

The most memorable line in this novel is when in real life he gets trashed and mugged in the street by two hoodlums. 

"Do you know what happens to the duck when the lake freezes over?"

Incidentally his girlfriend before he is sent to the war promises to wait for him to get back and then promptly goes off and marries Charlie Chaplin. She was 18 at that time and Charlie was 54. Isn't eighteen times three equal fifty-four?

It was only his mother who supported his writing right from early on because she said, "it feels so real." His father wanted him to become a man and be the "bacon king" - sell meat so that he would be able to pay his rent. He used to get thrown out of every class because of his "sarcastic mouth."

On the first page of this masterpiece he wrote :

To 

My Mother 

And the author himself: "If people are the distraction, then you remove the people."

That novel sells 250,000 books every year. It's sold over 65 million copies in 30 languages.