Calgary Public Library - Teen Zone

LINK:Calgary Public Library - Teen Zone


This is the absolutely hideous website for Calgary Public Library's teen services division.

It features:

- an array of teen-related features, from the obvious to the bizarre, under a heading called "Gotta Do It!" These include a small techno music mixing software toy under the heading "Mix It!," a similar small animation creation tool with an interface reminiscent of MS paint, and a 'dictionary' of 'TxT' (which I assume is 'netspeak'). Interspersed with these strange, tacky add-ons, are regular features like an Author Readings link. I assume they are placed there to draw teens attention to the regular features, or surprise them or something. I say they're tacky, but they are kind of neat too. It just seems odd to me as I don't remember this kind of thing existing in my teen days at libraries.

- a library programs link, which takes you to a program search box (which, inconveniently, doesn't have teen programs selected), and a link to a .PDF teen program guide.

- a side column with a number of links which library staff and/or their advisors felt would interest teens. Some of the links in the column include: An excellent book club page, a tiny teen news and updates section, an equally short teen book review section (a great idea nonetheless), a confusingly similar 'book nook' section with reviews and links to the catalogue, and several sections on jobs and teen interests with web links, guides and catalogue links. I found the sections to include a bit too much 'library-speak,' such as talking about a Wiley Database, and some were too short or small to be of much use to teens.

- links to computer locations and new arrival CDs

Overall, the site includes some well thought out teen links and content, but it could use a bit less 'library speak,' a bit more depth to its content, and better organization of links (unless their locations are academically informed). Most importantly, the site needs a major aesthetic design overhaul. Neon-puke-green, neon orange, strange symbols and oddly-named links do not a great website make.

Vancouver Public Library: VPL Teens

LINK:Vancouver Public Library: VPL Teens

There seems to be a love of neon-puke-green and neon orange colour schemes, at least as far as Vancouver and Calgary are concerned. This, the VPL site, pulls it off by having neon orange as the dominant colour, in a tame background section devoid of unnecessary junk.

The teens page includes links to events at the library, library information, booklists, "links," "parents/teachers," and the actual teen site "teens' zone."

The teens' zone sub-site is quite plain and, while following a fairly consistent colour scheme akin to the opening teen page, features a boring and out of place square of content surrounded by a distracting white background. The box of links features links to websites and homework help - that's it.

The web links on this site are relevant and useful, if not always up to date (e.g. a link to the now defunct Street Cents), and the linked booklists are likewise great. The site is simple and easy to figure out too. But where are the links to teen programming, advisory boards, book clubs, etc? Well, some of them are hidden in the 'events' link on the teens' zone page, which looks identical to the initial events page. Luckily, a simple "Teen Events" or similar title would suffice to correct this navigational snafu.

Overall, this is a better looking, simpler site than the Calgary teen site, but could stand for a small aesthetic adjustment, some more content, better updating, and more obvious content linking.

Battle Royale

Title: Battle Royale aka Batoru Rowaiaru
Director: Kinji Fukasaku

"At the dawn of the new millennium, Japan is ina a state of near-collapse. Unemployment is at an all-time high, and violence amongst the nations youth is spiralling out of control. With school children boycotting their lessons and physically abusing their teachers, a beleaguered and near-defeated government decides to introduce a radical new measure: the Battle Royale Act Overseen by their former teacher, Kitano ('Beat' Takeshi) and requiring that a randomly chosen school class be taken to a deserted island and forced to fight each other to the death, the Act dictates that only one pupil be allowed to survive the punishment. He or she will return, not as the victor, but as the ultimate proof of the lengths to which the government are prepared to go to curb the tide of juvenile disobedience." -IMDB.com

I must say, I was pretty shocked by this movie, even considering years of desensitization from news and popular media.

Battle Royale is one of the most over-the-top, controversial and crazy movies of all time. This - never officially released in the USA film - is, nevertheless, widely available through Japanese bootlegs and the internet. It is popular with older teens and college students.

Battle Royale really makes you think about the struggle to survive, natural instinct, the killing instinct, relationships and much more. Indeed, putting grade nines on an island in a no-holds-barred battle to the death, even with hokey dialogue, makes for a scholar-worthy exploratory study of human nature. A surefire hit with 'what if' fans, this 'Survivor on steroids and crack' film is arguably appropriate for high school age teens on up.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Written By: Cameron Crowe
Directed By: Amy Heckerling


Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a classic 80s teen movie which has no obvious central character or focus. Instead it is comprised of a number of teenage high school characters, from the popular single guy with a girlfriend, to the shy science nerd, to the surfer/stoner guy, to the 15 year old girl who pretends she's 19 and samples sex. Sex is a major theme of the movie, with masturbation, premature ejaculation, straight sex and abortion all prominently featured; while other themes include getting jobs, relationships, cars, money, and a smattering of academics.

Ridgemont, largely due to its widespread character focus, is a rather anti-climactic movie and is low on character development. There is no massive singular event which all the characters share, save perhaps a short school dance, and the film doesn't end in a unifying way either. Instead, individual characters learn their lessons and continue with their lives, on their way to new lessons - much the way High School really is anyway.

Ridgemont does a decent job of depicting a generalized form of early to mid-1980s American High School reality.

50 Cent: The Massacre

Title: The Massacre
Artist: 50 Cent

This album features songs about 50 cent. 50 cent killing people, 50 cent having sex with women and leaving them, 50 cent riding around, robbing people at gun point, tying up people, doing drugs and so on.

50 cent is a pretty negative role model for lots of teens around the world, and is a poster-boy for violence and the 'gangsta' life. He acts as a strong male figure, particularly to impressionable youths from rougher neighbourhoods and broken homes, by constantly using the gangsta term 'son,' while telling a story in his song, and by emphasizing what a real man should do in life.

For most youths, The Massacre is just cool music to listen to and, while it may inspire a little violence, mistreatment of women, and drug use now and then, nothing major comes out of it. Besides, the album has great bass lines and would sound great in the stereo-infused cars of many high school boys.

On the other hand, constantly speaking of such negative activities doubtlessly inspires some teens to commit serious violent and negative acts themselves. Moreover, the attitude professed by 50 Cent in The Massacre does not make for a productive member of society, and tends to glamorize a crappy, short life which only a few rap stars actually benefited from.

I wouldn't recommend this album for anyone to listen to really, as there are hip hop artists with much less senselessly violent lyrics, such as Eric B and The Roots. If a teen plays it now and then while driving around in their car, or hears the odd song at a party or something though, who cares.

As a final note, in The Massacre, 50 Cent follows a regimen of grammar corruption which makes my own grammar deficiencies seem trivial by comparison. This cannot be good for the English language or the grammar skills of the worlds' youth.

Panic! At the Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

Title: Panic! At the Disco
Artist: A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

This album is a tour-de-force of words. It has titles like 'London Beckoned Songs about Money Written by Machines' and the songs feature and endless stream of speech. I'm not really sure what the group's singer is saying most of the time, but he tends to say things like "it's time for us to take a chance," and "lalalalalalalala, just for the record, the weather today is always fantastic," which is positive.

The style of A Fever You Can't Sweat Out is outgoing, happy punk, akin to acts like Green Day and Sum 41. This is not my favourite music by any means, and I find that most punk songs by any artist sound almost identical. The fast-paced, positive, outgoing, 'friends having good times,' music is very popular with many teens however, so my opinion doesn't matter.

I don't know what else to say about this album. It doesn't seem to teach many values or anything, it's mostly just happy pointless dancing/hanging out music. All I know is that it would be a good fit for a YA music collection, what with Panic! At the Disco being a rising star of sorts.

An odd scene comes to mind with this music.. two 85 year old, former 2000s teenagers turned retirement home guests listening to this on an oldies radio station and reminiscing. Ha.

Gamepro

Category: Magazine
Editor: Wes Nihei
Title: Gamepro
Publisher: IDG Games
Frequency: Monthly


Comments: This is a popular teen video gaming magazine with a worldwide audience. It's full of colourful video game reviews, articles, secret code sections and advertisements - all aimed at the teen to 20-something audience. Video-gaming is a major past-time for teens, and Gamepro gives them the inside scoop and gives some males a 'cool' thing to read.

I read it as a teen too, and it was not necessarily the best teen video game magazine around. Today, I'd say Gamespot.com is a better choice.

Seventeen Magazine

Category: Magazine
Editor: Ann Shoket
Title: Seventeen Magazine
Publisher: Hearst Corporation
Frequency: Monthly


Comments: This is a classic teen magazine aimed towards teen girls, whether seventeen or not. It features lots of glitz and glam, the latest fashion tips, relationship advice, advertisements galore, and features of female role-models, most of whom are seventeen in spirit only. While I find this magazine to be a waste of paper, and little more than an attempt to take teens' summer job cash, it does give teens a way to keep up with trends, fit in with their peers, and strive for that all important 'popularity.'

Bone: Out From Boneville

Category: Graphic Novel
Author: Jeff Smith
Title: Bone: Out From Boneville
Publisher: Scholastic Graphix
Publication Date: 2005

Plot Summary: Three bone cousins are chased out of their home town of Boneville and discover a magical valley, where they meet both friend and foe, and begin a long adventure.

Comments: This classic comic series, which I sporadically read as a teenager, has recently been re-packaged in graphic novel form, colourized, and marketed to a new generation of teens. Bone is basically a cross between fantasy, comedy and a little bit of action/thriller, all rolled into a thoroughly-readable package. The happy-looking, yet surprisingly mature Bone character and his run-ins with characters both whimsical and terrifying makes for a highly varied, well illustrated storyline which should appeal to many teens from junior high to high school age. Adding to that, while it is a fantasy set in semi-medieval times, it includes several strong women characters who are at least the equals of their male counterparts.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Category: Fantasy/Series/Award Winner
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Title: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Publication Date: 1955

Plot Summary: The fate of a world called middle-earth rests on the efforts of diminutive Hobbits, and a fellowship of elf, man, wizard and dwarf, in this epic story of good versus evil.

Comments: These three books (originally intended to be one book) should need little introduction. The Lord of the Rings, along with The Hobbit and, to a lesser extent, The Silmarillion, encapsulate what is arguably the greatest and most influential work of fantasy, if not fiction, of the last two hundred years. Tolkien's books transport readers to the land of middle earth and bring the readers along on Bilbo, Frodo, and the others' quests in an almost universally-appealing way. Characters such as Bilbo, Gollum, Gandalf and Sauron are artfully constructed, and the depth of fictional history and culture created for this series, itself based on European history, is phenomenal, including whole languages complete with grammar (e.g. elvish) and extensive time lines.

Basically, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is one of the greatest literary works ever written.

I read the series in elementary school, again in High school, and again in College, and can heartily recommend it for those in elementary with an adequate reading level on up to the oldest person alive. Some younger or less patient readers may find that sections of the series drag on, but the overall intrigue of the series should usually counteract this.

Number the Stars

Category: Historical Fiction/Award Winner
Author: Lois Lowry
Title: Number the Stars
Publisher: Dell Publishing
Publication Date: 1990

Plot Summary: This is a brief story of the Danish resistance movement of World War II, through the character of a young Danish girl. The girl, Annemarie, experiences Nazi cruelty first hand, and learns about bravery while helping to save her Jewish friends.

Comments: A simply written, short novel with a decent storyline. It is best suited for younger teens, and has a nice blend of very little descriptive violence with enough threatening intent to make it interesting. The story lets the reader know a little about the Danish resistance movement, life for those living in occupied Denmark, bravery, friendship, sisterhood, and even the perspective of parents.

Mimus

Category: Historical Fiction
Author: Lilli Thal
Title: Mimus
Publisher: Annick Press
Publication Date: 2005

Plot Summary: Set in a medieval European landscape, this is the story of a prince who is forced to become a jester at the court of his father's mortal enemy. The prince must overcome seemingly insurmountable hardship; including the capture, imprisonment, torture humiliation of himself and his father, and must struggle to survive. The prince goes from a life of opulence to life as a lowly jester - akin to a farm animal - and must come to terms with his fellow 'inmate,'the remarkable master jester Mimus, or perish in his enemy's castle.

Comments: This rather mature novel, complete with graphic scenes of cats impaled on pikes, and most suitable for those of high school age and up, becomes a deep, enthralling epic. It features a standard teen character (Florin the prince), and a very well-concieved and intriguing companion character (Mimus the Jester), who plays the role of a twisted parental figure/jailor/teacher/friend/nemesis all in one.

I was surprised with the depth and complexity of Mimus. Rather than focus on swashbuckling medieval siege-play and Robin-Hood adventures like many a ficitonal medieval tale, Mimus delves into social relations, individual character, the harshness of reality, irony, and gritty surrealism. Some of the scenes captured in Mimus are just plain shocking - from extended physical torture, to the arguably more powerful emotional torture frequently used on Florin by his vengeful captor, King Theodo.

One particularly telling scene involves Florin observing King Theodo having a regular, tender, loving time with his family; the same King Theodo who will order any degree of torture, pain or death without batting an eye.

Lilli Thal does an excellent job at making the reader believe they are really at a medieval king's court, watching jesters perform for scraps of food and their lives. A constant tension fills the novel, making very few sections boring or unenjoyable, and making the book difficult to put down.

Galapagos

Category: Science Fiction/Crossover
Author: Kurt Vonnegut
Title: Galapagos
Publisher: Dell Publishing
Publication Date: 1999

Plot Summary: "A million years ago," a worldwide apocalypse has wiped out all humanity, save a select group of people on a small Galapagos Island. This is the story of how this came to be.

Comments: This is a messed up book. Vonnegut has a very strange writing style, wherein he writes about the origins of the plot and the outcome of the plot's climactic event - all through the story. You know what the ending is very early on. Vonnegut uses short paragraphs and sections repeatedly, jumping back and forth through time and relating things over and over via witty jokes, allegories etc. He also refers to the narrator as someone a million years in the future, who is dead "now" but was alive around the time the story takes place.

The book is full of great quotes and lines by the demi-character Mandarax, and a very cavalier and somewhat depressing look at humanity which strikes home. Vonnegut's fixation with the human mind's deficiencies and eccentricities is particularly interesting.

That said, the book is also long, with many repeated notions and situations, and an incredibly choppy and somewhat confusing style. I wouldn't recommend this book for anyone below high school age, or anyone with a particularly low attention span, as I myself lost patience with it fairly often.

The Giver

Category: Science-Fiction/Award Winner
Author: Lois Lowry
Title: The Giver
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 1993

Plot Summary: This is the story of a "12 year old" boy (Jonas) in a semi-futuristic society given a great task. Jonas must receive the memories of an entire a world - a world of 'sameness', strict rules, cultural control, genetic engineering and conformity.

Comments: This novel is very much along the lines of Plato's cave analogy and "The Matrix," as well as 1984 and the film "Equilibrium." There is the great discovery of the true nature of reality, along with the ability to feel instead of reason.

I found the chapter on releasing and death to be written in a very powerful fashion - depicting very bluntly the horror of mindless, unknowing killing to Jonas: Who now understands that, or at least feels that, such an activity is morally wrong.

The loneliness of not being able to express feeling and realities to others (Jonas/The Giver/Receiver)in a society of 'sameness' and uniformity is akin to teenage loneliness and not being able to fit in.

As emotions are discovered and explored, the overall emotional level of the book increases (e.g. Jonas' Trek).


The Giver is a story which brings a common argument to the fore: Is it better to have more freedom of choice - to choose between good and evil - or 'play god', or is it better to have the safety net of those choices being made for you? How much state/government involvement should there be in society? Are we truly alive if we have no freedom of choice and expression? Is the Giver's community a perfect community, in that it is breeding a race of genetically preferred, non-violent, well-organized, peaceful beings, or is this a terrible world where those who do not belong are killed, where there is no passion, no love, no real feelings at all - where there are no colours, where history is irrelevant and where there is no social mobility?

The state in The Giver is arguably a form of Communism, or at least a socialistic oligarchy (the committee rules). It controls actions, jobs are decided for people, forms of expression are discouraged and virtually eliminated, sex is only for procreation purposes and is considered base, males and females are ostensibly equal, etc. Not all jobs are equal, as their are many labourers who make food production possible and handle 'dirty work', and some differences and choice are allowed - in terms of choosing where to volunteer - but otherwise this is an incredibly homogeneous state.

I also found the Jonas' realization that his family did not love him - did not truly know what love is - to be startling. To be taken from a comfort zone where all seems right and exposed to 'the full light of the sun' is a shock to anyone's psyche, but to realize that your family relationship was nothing more than a loveless, ordered, programmed, almost robotic, non-biologically connected relationship designed to continue the community must be pretty darn hard to take.

There is also the 'knowledge is power' theme, what with The Giver and Jonas realizing they have a mental ability far beyond the rest of the community combined. A similar theme has existed in the past, and still exists today, whereby those who are educated can see the forest for the trees, while the working classes continue to blindly chop them down.

Overall a Great book, and one which makes you think about the role and importance of feelings, emotion and memory, among other aspects of life. It may seem quite heavy for a YA book, but different readers can interpret the story in multiple, yet equally valuable ways.

Forever

Category: Romance/Banned Books
Author: Judy Blume
Title: Forever
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: 1976

Plot Summary: In this heart-wrenching, coming of age story, teenage Katherine discovers the joy and sadness of falling in love for the first time.

Comments: This is an amazing book which really hits home with me. It is well-written, not just telling a simple love story, but a love story replete with all the trials and tribulations of a teenager's life. It speaks to the heart, and addresses issues which undoubtedly affect adult psyches for the rest of their lives. Blume's tale is also very graphic, and I can see why it was banned. It depicts sexual acts between teenagers to a surprising degree, yet it does so in an 'artistic' fashion, describing the tender, new, often awkward and surprising exploration of physical love between two physically mature, competent young adults.

That said, the age of readership for this book should be the legal sexual age to infinity, or perhaps a standard 16-infinity. On the other hand, various arguments could be made for earlier readership to educate and prepare youth for what lies ahead, 'learn through experience/the hard way/fall down to get back up' etc., the argument that everyone's life is different anyway, and not everyone has their first love in High School (whether it be junior high or mid-life) etc. etc.

All-in-all, and this can be said with authority, a must-read for anyone in university who hasn't read it yet.

The Chinese Mirror

(Can't find a pic.)

Category: Fantasy
Author: Alice Major
Title: The Chinese Mirror
Publisher: Irwin Publishing
Publication Date: 1988

Plot Summary: A young adult, Peter, finds that an antique mirror in his bedroom is a portal to a Chinese fantasy realm called the 'mirror world.' Peter discovers that he, his sister, and their friend Stephen must work together to save both worlds from Shen-Chi - a power-hungry Tiger.

Comments: This is a fairly straightforward fantasy romp. The youth in the story must bind together and venture on, though there are no real character dynamics established between them to make any conflict believable. The parents are conveniently out of the picture, attending to the grandmother, whom the kids have a special relationship with - fitting the YA lit. pattern. This high school tale is very equal and ethnically aware, with brother/sister and Chinese friend saving the world, via a world of Chinese design which is treated with great respect throughout.

Twas an easy pleasant read and although strikingly familiar to The Neverending Story at times (I wonder which came first?) had some fairly original elements. Not the most exciting adventure ever written, but not too bad.

Refuge Cove

Category: Hi/Lo
Author: Lesley Choyce
Title: Refuge Cove
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Publication Date: 2002

Plot Summary: Greg is a recently fatherless teen who loves sailing. He moves from Toronto to small-town NFLD where he meets an Asian refugee family and learns about helping others.

Comments: Side note: I chose this book because Lesley has been my girlfriend's prof. for a few years and she goes on about him a fair bit, and because it's about Newfoundland. This is, on one hand, a choppy, disconnected book with poorly developed character relationships. On the other hand, it is a book seemingly based on an action movies’ model, complete with a teenage action hero (Greg). Because of its many scenes of danger, suspense, tension and light-romance, Refuge Cove seems able to fulfill the role of the Orca Soundings series in attracting teen readers who don’t normally read, have short attention spans and so on. It was a quick, easy to read, intellectually dormant – yet intriguingly action-packed, non-stop ride of a book for me.

Hold Fast

Category: Award Winner/Realistic Fiction
Author: Kevin Major
Title: Hold Fast
Publisher: Douglas and McIntyre
Publication Date: 2004

Plot Summary: Micheal, an orphaned Newfoundland teenager, deals with life in small town Newfoundland, rebels and grows as a person.

Comments: This book is full of examples of stereotypical teenage behaviour and challenges, albeit in a Newfoundland and parent-less context. Throughout the book, the main character, Michael encounters generalization of teens as troublemakers by adults, bullies, parties, sex and girls, love, conflict with a semi-abusive foster father, academic pressures, dealing with lying and conscience, hitchhiking, death of family members, extreme rebellion and so on. Throughout there is a major theme of proving to the adults or “those guys” that Michael and – on their car-stealing rebellious camping trip – his cousin Curtis can “get along without them.” Michael represents a rather strong character, whom both his little brother and cousin Curtis look up to and trust. He is tough and experienced for a teenager, but also emotional and fairly frequently cries. The book could be a great resource for teens as it is full of examples of more controversial teen behaviour, including masturbation (briefly) and serious rebellion, which teens can relate to or learn from.

The Dark is Rising

Category: Series or Award-Winning or Fantasy
Author: Susan Cooper
Title: The Dark is Rising
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: 1973

Plot Summary: A young boy (Will Stanton) discovers that he is not just a boy – but one of the “old ones” – a race of immortal defenders of all that is good. From midwinter day till the twelfth day Christmas, he must figure out just what his responsibilities and powers are, before the forces of “the dark” gain a great victory over “the light” and plunge the world into darkness.

Comments: This is a very Lord of the Rings/Chronicles of Narnia inspired, Harry Potter-esque (pre-Harry Potter) story of youthful adventure. While the story is sometimes choppy and hard to swallow, Cooper has created a fairly engrossing fictional world, complete with tension, excitement, history, and even a surprising challenge to Christianity and support for pagan beliefs and “magick.” Interestingly, throughout the story, Will and the forces of good never really appear in danger. The author manages to convey a sense of threat from the forces of evil, and negative consequences should Will and the Old Ones fail in their quest, while imbuing Will with an aura of immortality and buoyant quality. This situation is difficult to digest for someone very conscious of their own mortality, such as myself, but fits very well with the perceived view of young adults believing they are invincible and/or immune to all but mild harm.

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast

Category: Fairy Tale re-telling
Author: Robin McKinley
Title: Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
Publisher: Harper and Row
Publication Date: 1978


Plot Summary:

A young, plain, intellectual girl named Honour and nicknamed Beauty lives with her two sisters Grace and Hope and her wealthy merchant father in London. The family soon loses its wealth due to a series of unfortunate shipping events and moves to a small town in northern England with a shipper-cum-blacksmith. After a while, Beauty’s father goes on a business trip to the city, and on the way back he becomes lost in the woods where he discovers and enchanted castle. He ventures into the castle for shelter and spends the night, attended by enchanted servants. The next day he meets the Beast, who, angered by the fathers’ picking of a special rose, commands the father to return to the castle to die, or bring him one of his daughters. The father returns home and tells his tale to his family, which results in Beauty volunteering to return with him.
Against her fathers’ wishes, Beauty goes to the castle to live with the beast. Beauty explores the castle, and goes from fear of the beast to a like of him and his way of life, spending mornings walking with him, evenings dining with him, while all the while refusing his offers of marriage. After six months or so, they have become quite close, yet Beauty misses her family enough to plead for a chance to visit them and to help out her sister Grace. The Beast lets her go, she returns for a week and gives her sister some great news. While away, Beauty realizes she loves the Beast and leaves her family to return to him. His health failing, Beauty finds the Beast just in time to save his life, tells him she loves him, and promises to marry him – thus breaking the enchantment the Beast was under. The Beast turns back into the dashing man he once was, and a fairytale wedding ensues.


Comments: I found this story to be enjoyable, easy to read, and well written. It was a decent “page-turner” and not too romantic and sappy for me. It also reminded me of Jane Eyre and other Victorianesque novels, which was pleasingly familiar. On the other hand, some parts of the story were not very logical, such as the Beast’s appearance and Beauty’s desire to go and live with him. These sections could have been written in a way so as to convey the reality of their situations in a clearer fashion. Another thing which was odd about the story was that it didn’t seem to differ too much from the original Beauty and the Beast, which doesn’t make it very original, and, finally, the ending felt tacked on and hastily conceived. All-in-all, for a young adult, particularly girls – but boys as well – this would be a great, lighthearted novel, bereft of violence and much of the harshness of reality.

The Catcher in the Rye

Category: Award winning or Controversial
Author: Salinger, J.D.
Title: The Catcher in the Rye
Publisher: Bantam Books
Publication Date: 1964


Plot Summary: The novel involves a few days in the life of an financially well-off, alienated, intelligent and somewhat overwhelmed youth named Holden Caulfield. The story begins at Holden’s prep. school, Pencey, where Holden (also the narrator) describes why he hates life at Holden, and how relations with his athletic good looking roommate, strange, pimply neighbour, and others went. From the beginning of the tale it is clear Holden has already flunked out of Pencey, just as he has several other preparatory schools, and his parents don’t yet know. Holden decides to leave school early, taking a wad of cash with him, and the rest of the story sees him traveling to New York where he attempts to pass the time before going home to confront his parents. Along the way he meets the parent of a student he used to know (whom he lies to), an old girlfriend, an old schoolmate, several nuns, a hotel bellboy/pimp, a prostitute, an old teacher, and his younger sister. Holden interacts with all these characters, while reminiscing on other characters from his old schools, his parents and his Hollywood-bound brother, criticizing each in turn for either their negative “phony” characteristics, or their positive innocent characteristics. He lies and makes up stories for something to do, swears a lot, and debates whether he should go home or run away to the west. In the end, due largely to a need to protect the innocence of his sister, as well as epiphanies on life – such as the fact that he cannot protect everyone and that everyone and everything is naturally flawed, he goes home and the story ends.


Comments: This was a great book, plain and simple. I definitely identified with the Holden, as I have always had a soft spot for innocence, I also dislike “phony” people, have never fit in with too many cliques, etc. A characteristic I don’t share with Holden is his class. Holden comes from a fairly upper-class family, with a corporation-lawyer father and Hollywood-writer brother, whereas I grew up on the poverty line. It is very interesting to see how world views and the process of growing up can be similar, regardless of class and/or financial standing. I was particularly moved by Holden’s criticism of working just to buy material goods and cars – which I also strongly criticize – and his criticisms of sex (despite constantly “feeling sexy”) which I also felt most strongly when I was still a virgin, as Holden is.
The “fuck you” symbolism – that everywhere you go you cannot find peace, quiet, or innocence without something or someone ruining it, is a very interesting part of Catcher. It is such a negative viewpoint, clearly in line with negative, ‘realist’, critical thinking, and such a sad idea. I like to think it is more the case in an urban setting, and that one does not have to interpret a bumblebee sting in a clear wooded glade the same way as say, a heroin needle found in a city park.
I can definitely see how the novel is a bit controversial, or at least was. Prostitutes, pimps, light sex talk and superfluous swearing may even be a bit risque’ for the young adult crowd, even today. I found the use of repetitive swearing tiring even, although I’m sure they exist, I’ve never met a person who says “g’damn” that often. Moreover, Holden often states how he would “bash people’s brains in if only he had the guts” and depicts their deaths in dramatic detail. This is highly controversial and could be interpreted as actions to follow for any angst-ridden, alienated teenagers out there. There are so many powerful life choices represented in Catcher in the Rye which could mean different things to different people; and the ending is more a whimper than a bang, leaving final interpretations very open for the imagination – or actions – of the reader.
This was a book I had trouble putting down, which is always a great sign.

I wonder why so many people read this book... hmmm....