As for Salinger, I suspect his opinion of himself is higher than merited by a single work, regardless of how relevant it was to an angst-ridden generation in 1951. Worse than Catcher in the Rye were his books Franny and zooy and Raise High the Roofbeams Carpenter, all of which I read and reread because I kept searching for the reasons others thought they were great books. Never have found the reasons.
I have to admit I bought
Franny and Zooey at a used book sale but I've never been able to bring myself to read it. It's like John O'Hara. You read
Appointment in Samarra and you think every O'Hara novel has to be great. Then you read
Butterfield 8.I don't understand the fascination with JD Salinger. Just let the guy fade away already.