Lunchtime read: The Catcher in the Rye

One of the weird things about Catcher is that although a lot of the background is just simply that it is so well described that a British person with just a vague experience of the US college system can picture the scene. Almost ten years ago I visited a college near Kansas, where my brother was studying for a year, and the dorm block described here was almost the same.

Highlights from chapters 3 – 8

* Although it seemed as if Holden was heading straight out of the college after his meeting with the history teacher he in fact heads back to the dorm and the delights of his room mate and next door neighbour

* Holden is interrupted, put upon and has his possessions borrowed but he doesn’t seem to mind expect when he stud of a roommate reveals that that night he is dating someone who Holden used to know when she was younger

* As his time at the college draws to an end he starts to loathe those around him and after his room mate returns they have a fight and in the middle of the night Holden decides to leave and check into a hotel before heading home for the holidays

* On the way to a hotel in a train he bumps into the parent of a fellow pupil and can’t stop lying about how great the student is and loads of things about the college

More tomorrow…