I missed out on reading The Catcher in the Rye when I was at the age most people who read it had done. I read it recently. The book, had I read it at the age, would’ve really helped for I was Holden in my own way. Perhaps, I still am. Perhaps, all of us are. The funny part is, I had read the last page of Catcher before I had read the book. It’s funny because you can’t understand what the last line means until you see the story of Holden or at least the part he chooses to tell; “chooses” being the operative word. In subsequent reading about J.D. Salinger and his life beyond Catcher, it seems he too believed truly in the last lines of his book as he became recluse and unapproachable. Reading The Catcher in the Rye impacted my life, and the way I go about it extremely deeply. If you need context, maybe look at my recent blog posts. It’s a really simple yet oddly complex book, with a really simple yet oddly complex ending. If you haven’t read it, do it but don’t tell others. “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”