Column Chronicles: The Brutal Critic: The Catcher In The Rye

The Brutal Critic: The Catcher In The Rye

Frank Cotolo
June 13, 2024

Let me introduce myself whether you like it or not. My name is Bruce Danko, better known as the Brutal Critic. They call me that because I get right down to the grit of books, movies, plays and I find all the flaws.

J.D. Salinger's fiction was a phenomena in the 1950s. The definition of phenomena in the publishing biz was (and still is) any book selling tons of copies. Problem, though. Young readers felt close to its character, a complete arse of a kid who goes to New York City for three days and does nothing but complain.

He doesn't even attempt to check the place out. He never visits the Automat or Grant's Tomb and doesn't know who is buried there. He ignores Radio City Music Hall as well.

For 241 pages Salinger takes on the persona of this brat who complains about everything. He protest too much, if you catch my drift. Kids love to rebel, as is told in rebels without causes and the beatniks and the beat writers but this kid talks like he would beat up the beat writers; but it's all talk, blah blah, poor me, wahhhh, wahhhh.

Teenagers still eat up the brat's bull. No generation is safe from this crackpot Salinger. And he was a nutjob too, from what I learned watching Paul Dano play him and a documentary called Salinger. Duh.

The stinky kid even misidentifies the title of the book. He uses the wrong lyrics to a song and says he feels like a catcher in the rye. For a long time it became a joke about Yogi Berra (a baseball catcher) being hooked on whiskey (rye) but that made more sense and it was more entertaining.

Reviewers refused to admit they did not understand any of it by making crap up to assign meaninful purpose to the prose. That's crap. In 2024 this book is fodder for picking up puppy poop. Can I make that any clearer?

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.