I don't typically relate to (or even enjoy) the books I'm tasked to read at school. I absorb myself into the novels solely because of my will to succeed in the class, though oftentimes I do grow to tolerate them after using them to cram as hard as I do for tests or timed essays.

What I dislike most about classic literature, however, is its insistence on providing lengthy descriptions of unimportant aspects of the text, mainly regarding the setting or some other arbitrary element I don't actually care about.

Recently, though, I had to read "The Catcher In The Rye," a novel by J.D. Salinger about... Well, it's not really about anything. If you've read the book, you're aware of its awkwardly structured and seemingly pointless narrative, even though its underlying themes about the pain of adulthood have kept it in the literary Hall of Fame for all these years. The book is unlike anything I've ever read in that it reads more like a journal than an actual novel. Not only is it written in first person, but the main character, Holden Caulfield, tells the story in a conversational manner, with frequent digressions and several moments of unreliable narration.

The story is thus told through Holden's "stream of consciousness," meaning the thoughts laid out in the book are written as if they were his genuine thoughts. Thought, unlike proper literature, is largely incoherent and largely skewed by emotions. Likewise, throughout the story, we learn more about Holden's state of mind and can even psychoanalyze his character based on the strange interactions he has with the outside world and on the feelings he experiences as a result of them.

Without revealing too many plot details, Holden Caulfield's story is not one that aligns with that of a typical literary protagonist. His journey is messy, repetitive, and extremely inconclusive, leaving readers with a feeling of unsatisfaction by the time the book ends (quite abruptly at that). In this way, "The Catcher In The Rye" serves more as a character study than as an entertaining, whole story in the traditional sense.

So no, "The Catcher In The Rye" isn't a satisfying novel, but it is terrifically refreshing. In having to read most of the book in one night (a product of my usual procrastination tendencies), I weirdly found myself actually reading through each page and engrossing myself in the minute details of Holden's thoughts, whereas any other book would have bored me with the needless exposition, causing me to skim through it.

While it isn't as straightforward or conventional as many young readers (especially my peers) would like, "The Catcher In The Rye" is the first work of literature I've read to portray the well-known "coming-of-age" story in a way that mirrors what it feels like to grow up in the real world: it's strange, it can be awkward, and it doesn't quite make sense most of the time.