I read this book because it is so often talked about in literature circles and is on most of the top 100 novels lists available. Unfortunately, I was utterly annoyed by the book. The character, Holden Caulfield is exceedingly intolerable, especially considering the book was written in his first-person perspective. While I understand that the book is primarily dealing with teenage angst, the entire point seems to be lost behind the character of Holden who at the same time is supposed to epitomize this “angst”. His entire character, his figures of speech, and his tone of voice were all very hard to deal with as a reader. I constantly found myself wanting to give up on the book. Even the last few chapters, particularly that of his story of Mr Antolini (who seemed ironically to be the single likable character), that were even slightly acceptable did not make the book worth its entirety. At the last page I found myself saying, “What the hell?” I almost feel stupider for having read it. The greatest benefit in reading this book was the ability to check it off my list.