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: I never understood The Catcher in the Rye while in high school. Holden's problems seemed too self-pitying and trivial. My own life back then was wonderfully sheltered and filled with goals towards which I feverishly worked. It wasn't until college that I had the desire to experience the real world. The people that I met had been exposed to this world much earlier than I. The smiles they wore and the stories they told of the great lives that they had led before ending up on my dorm floor masked some truly traumatic or at least less than ideal previous existences. And the claustrophobic setting of the residence hall soon forced some of these individuals to act in a way that betrayed these old wounds. A girl whom I barely knew in high school used the following verse from Shakespeare as her senior quote in our yearbook, 'Look like the innocent rose but be the serpent beneath.' I definitely paraphrased that verse but the point is that it seemed like everyone person I chose to trust in college and even now in medical school lives by this motto. For a while, I thought I was going to lose it.That's where Mr. Salinger comes into the picture. For a while, his book was the only piece of evidence that proved I wasn't alone in the way I felt. I've read that a lot of critics feel this is a book about the transition from child to adulthood and for once it's a criticism with which I agree. I'm sure most people go through this transition without getting hung up on the difference between being innocent or just acting as if you were. I'll bet the people that I would consider 'phony' or 'flaky' are actually just well adjusted adults who know how to look out for their best interests at any cost while preserving a sense of civility and decorum in daily interactions with others. However, there are some of us who do get hung up on the difference. And I'm glad these people exist because they are the ones that create great reads like Holden's story.I'm glad I got to read this book. It helped me adjust more than any therapist could ever hope to...and for a lot cheaper too. I'm sure the author has been thanked a countless number of times but he has my gratitude just the same.

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