Catcher in the Rye has got to be the worst book ever written..................
We were made to read that piece of trash in HS, circa 1972, when we were supposed to ‘identify’ with the main character. My HS English teacher was fresh out of college, and thought that this book was the greatest thing since Shakespeare. We had to get permission slips signed so that we could read it. Why in hell did she think we would like to read a book about a teenage guy trying to get laid?........Then after that book, we had to read The Sun also Rises, (Hemmingway) about a guy who couldn’t get laid,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
You are supposed to empathize with Holden but realize how many flaws and problems he has. It’s a great novel that captures a specific voice perfectly.
Catcher in the Rye was a classic and well ahead of its time in terms of teenage alienation themes. I loved it as a teenage but as an adult not so much.
In the Sun Also Rises, the protagonist can’t get laid because he was rendered physically incapable by being wounded in World War I.
Sounds like your teacher would be one of the ones today who gets caught having an affair with one of her students.