I enjoyed this. For some reason, I expect all classics to be a long slog similar to Dickens when you're in the mood for Archie comics. Not that I don't adore Dickens, I do. But when you're only functioning enough to read "Archiekins, take ME to the dance, and not Betty.", Oliver Twist becomes a heck of a lot more difficult to understand.

Anyway. I digress.

Funny I should say that, because Holden Caulfield, our protagonist here, in his discussion with Mr. Antolini, talks about how he enjoys it when people digress. And I have to agree with him. Makes everything so much more interesting.

Let me say something- these entries are not going to be any kind of well-developed-high-thought literary essays. Just spontaneous commentary when I finish a book. Or perhaps some fashion rants- taking a schoolbus with kids between six and eighteen, I see all kinds of interesting outfits, many of which make me want to scream and run away.

Anyway. Digression.

I really, really liked this book. It reminded me a bit of The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton, for some reason. Maybe authors who go by their first two initials are alike.

Jeeeeez. I'm really not doing so hot at this on-topic thing, am I?

I was suprised, and a little bit worried, by how much I indentified with Holden. There was so much in his immature, cynical view of the people around him that I just connected with. Sparknotes (best website ever) puts it well;

"Something about his discontent, and his vivid way of expressing it, makes him resonate powerfully with readers who come from backgrounds completely different from his."

There ya go. So I really liked him. And this book. And you know what? I liked Phoebe, his 'kid sister'. Boy, she was sharp for a ten-year-old. It's funny, her character was used to highlight the immaturites in Holden's character, yet she's ten. And she has her own immaturities.

And my last all over the place comment- I was glad when he didn't sleep with that prostitute. Partially because I felt bad for her, but mostly because it didn't seem right. 

Did anyone else get the feeling that the nights in that book seemed to last forever? He'd start at ten at night, and then go to a bunch of places, and it wasn't even light out yet.

--Emily.

up next;; -possibly- A Boy Of Good Breeding, Mariam Toews. (A Complicated Kindness was really excellent, so I wanted to check out more of her work.)