From the everyone-has-read-this-one file, this classic has as many detractors as it does admirers. Is Holden Caulfield a sensitive soul or a boring whiner? Is his quest through New York at Christmastime an illuminating post-modern odyssey or much ado about solipsism? I can settle this: this is one of the best American novels since the 1950s (he said and then plugged his ears and screamed “la-la, la-la-la!” while angry readers gathered round him). Reviewed on July 30, 2020