So I’m probably going to receive a lot of flak for this post and but I guess I need to put it out there. There are a couple of things in the world of art, music, theatre and books that I think are over-rated. Grossly over-rated. The following cover the books and music part of the rant.
The Catcher in the Rye; Author: J.D Salinger
I love that Salinger was not pretentious about the book. No back cover, Recommendations, Forwards or explanations.
Like most people, I’d heard of the book described as an American classic with comparisons (In terms of Impact) to To Kill a Mockingbird.
I just. Don’t. See it.
Maybe it was about Reading between the Lines. If so, then I agree with the Fans because I’ve obviously missed something. But if the book is truly about a teenager walking through Pennsylvania for two days then I’m sorry to say there are books and stories that seem to speak more and better.
I admit I like Holden Caulfield. Nice guy and all. Courteous and despite being angst ridden he’s helpful and actually cares. So maybe I wouldn’t mind, hell I would probably be really interested in knowing about his two-day adventure with run-ins with Hookers and drugs after a frustrating and overall stifling school life. But do I really want to read 214 pages for it?
The conversational style of writing is probably it’s best feature but I suspect the entire point of even that was to bring Holden to life and make him more believable and consequently more endearing. It did make him more believable but as I mentioned I would prefer to have heard the story than read it.
In Parallel:
I thought there were several parallels in the book to scenes from the movie Remember Me (2010). The Book that seemed to be along the same lines was, Perks of being a Wallflower; Author: Stephen Chbosky.
I enjoyed both more that Catcher in the Rye. I’m sorry Mr. Salinger!
The Beatles
I once called them ‘No-good Sunshine Boys’.
I love this picture. A photographic classic surely?
I fear I’m going to be lynched for this but really, why are they such favourites? There have been several popular bands and I admit some of their music is really good but The Beatles are now a synonym for Greatness. Why?
I must confess that I had heard of The Beatles before having listened to their music and even then I heard a cover of the John Lennon classic Imagine before the Original. The cover I refer to, a personal favourite of mine, has been performed by A Perfect Circle. So my first impression of the song was a clever mock at the selfishness of humanity with the final passage challenging us to be better people. I loved it. Its possible I attributed more meaning to it than even they intended but the music was unbelievable. When I listened to the original however, I could only hear (What I would later realise was) a repetitive sway beat perfected by The Beatles in every song.
Having said that I do have some personal Beatles/Lennon favourites like Eleanor Rigby, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Within You Without you, Across the Universe.
Also, they have consistently above-average lyrics. But still. Meh.
The Alchemist; Author: Paolo Coelho
The Cover Art was more interesting that the content within. Oh Well.
The thing is I enjoy books on spirituality. So when I heard of a book describing a shepherd’s journey to find life’s meaning, I was as excited as only a Book-Hook (My personal Collective noun for voracious readers) can be. I read the book at top speed trying to get to the part where I would understand Coelho’s intent with it all. But the book ended before I could learn it. I was really embarrassed by this time. I was sure I didn’t get the deeper meaning and whenever someone mentioned their admiration of the book I ad-libbed and shuffled whilst attempting to change the topic of conversation. About two years later I finally found someone I considered a close friend (So I needn’t worry about sounding dim) who was interested in Spirituality (So I could be sure they got the specific point of the book) and was well read enough to have a perspective about The Alchemist beyond those of a Wannabe-Book-Hook (One who exclusively reads Bestsellers and claims to be a voracious reader to sound smart) and came face-to-face with the truth.
The lesson of the shepherd in the book was ‘Follow your Heart’.
I felt cheated. As good advice as that was I’m not sure an entire journey spanning 166 pages and ending in a Sand-Storm was really required. Oh and while we are at it? I hated Aleph too. Pointless prose. But The Alchemist ‘shook the world’ and I’m still to figure out why.
On an aside, I think I preferred and I can say even loved Eleven Minutes and The Witch of Portobello.
At one point I considered that maybe I take issue with things that have been recommended with a lot of promise and they fall short of my expectations. There are several of those. And then there those that have impressed even after the superlative recommendations and the consequent increase in expectations. Both the Harry Potter (Book) series and spiritual books by Dr. Brian Weiss are testament to that fact that bestsellers and blockbusters can live up to their name and more but the above are those that I have tried to understand and failed to see the lure of.
I would love to hear from you about your thoughts. Even if it is to robustly put me in my place.
Twist 