And now something completely different

Of course, I did look at the book through cynical eyes before even starting it. However, it wasn't just my family that caused this.

I enjoy reading articles online, with Cracked.com being one of my favorites. I understand it's not exactly the most reputable of sources (it's a comedy site), though I've yet to see anything straight-up wrong on the site. One of my favorite articles, "The Five Greatest Articles with Psychotic Fanbases", references Catcher, stating it's a favorite among psychopaths and murderers, most notably Mark David Chapman, the assassin of John Lennon.

On a side note, I will follow Spider Robinson's suggestion to not use Chapman's name, instead calling him He Who Must Not Be Named. This will be because Chapman supposedly murdered Lennon to be famous, ergo we will follow the example of the Greeks after The Arsonist, who burnt down a library for fame. His name has been lost to history. Come to think, He Who Must Not Be Named is a really long name, so instead I'll refer to Chapman as Voldemort.

Anyway, the Cracked article refers to how Voldemort was inordinately fond of Catcher in the Rye, having brought the novel with him when he went to shoot Lennon, then bringing the book out and reading it "while still steps away from the murder scene," signing "This is my statement, Holden Caulfield." Because commas are very difficult to decipher (direct address vs signatures), he either is talking to Holden (a book character) or is talking as Holden (still a book character, ergo not real, ergo not him).

The article does go on to explain how it doesn't make any sense that murderers liking Catcher is a thing, but it certainly did give me an unusual context. I would not say it's the reason for my disdain of the book, but it was, again, a context.