Re: First Catcher memories?

Brendan McKennedy (the.tourist@mailexcite.com)
Sat, 29 Nov 1997 23:59:24 -0700

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>I just joined this page last night, and it's already such a lovely place...  
>Although I'm feeling a bit narcissistic about sharing my Catcher experiences (although

>I always maintain eye contact in the mirror), this entire thing has been so nice,

>I can't help but get in on it...
>
>I first read Catcher when I was fourteen, a freshman in high school.  It was an
assignment
>for my English class--in a Catholic school no less!  (I got the axe, to quote a
madman,
>after that first year and repaired, feeling quite rebellious, to public school.)

>
>
>My first impression, you'll love to know, was the language.  I'm a writer (aren't

>we all...), and I'd censored myself like a Nazi...but I read Catcher...
>
>I know Holden is depressed at the word "fuck", and the way he finds it, it depresses

>me too...But it wasn't the profanity alone--it was the entire accuracy of the teenager's

>perception of this world.  It's a profane world, and teenagers are profane little

>people.  
>
>This was the first book I'd ever read that spoke to me, literally SPOKE to me--and

>on more levels than I was quite aware of at the time.
>
>Like every teenager, I felt that I was Holden, and I also felt that no one else
could
>be as much Holden as I was.
>
>It's nice to be alone sometimes.  It's nice to be depressed at a phony world.  It's

>nice to be a little bitter, a little hypocritical.  Sometimes I like to feel bigger

>than this world, to feel like the world is too small to hold my life, like Seymour.

>
>
>And of course, Phoebe is always there at the end, on the merry-go-round, the endless

>loop, the cycle, and of course nothing can touch Allie.  He's immortal.
>
>When I finish the book, it doesn't matter if I've fallen or not.  Because no matter
what or when, there's
>always those little kids who have to go meet their friends, and that kills me.
>
>B. McKennedy
>
>
>
>
>
>Free web-based email, Forever, From anywhere!
>http://www.mailexcite.com
>



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Date: Sat, 29 Nov 1997 23:54:59 -0700
From: "Brendan McKennedy" <the.tourist>
Subject: Re: First Catcher memories?
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I just joined this page last night, and it's already such a lovely place...  
Although I'm feeling a bit narcissistic about sharing my Catcher experiences (although
I always maintain eye contact in the mirror), this entire thing has been so nice,
I can't help but get in on it...

I first read Catcher when I was fourteen, a freshman in high school.  It was an assignment
for my English class--in a Catholic school no less!  (I got the axe, to quote a madman,
after that first year and repaired, feeling quite rebellious, to public school.)


My first impression, you'll love to know, was the language.  I'm a writer (aren't
we all...), and I'd censored myself like a Nazi...but I read Catcher...

I know Holden is depressed at the word "fuck", and the way he finds it, it depresses
me too...But it wasn't the profanity alone--it was the entire accuracy of the teenager's
perception of this world.  It's a profane world, and teenagers are profane little
people.  

This was the first book I'd ever read that spoke to me, literally SPOKE to me--and
on more levels than I was quite aware of at the time.

Like every teenager, I felt that I was Holden, and I also felt that no one else could
be as much Holden as I was.

It's nice to be alone sometimes.  It's nice to be depressed at a phony world.  It's
nice to be a little bitter, a little hypocritical.  Sometimes I like to feel bigger
than this world, to feel like the world is too small to hold my life, like Seymour.


And of course, Phoebe is always there at the end, on the merry-go-round, the endless
loop, the cycle, and of course nothing can touch Allie.  He's immortal.

When I finish the book, it doesn't matter if I've fallen or not.  Because there's
always those little kids who have to go meet their friends, and that kills me.

B. McKennedy





Free web-based email, Forever, From anywhere!
http://www.mailexcite.com
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