Der Fänger im Roggen

Lo abrí por curiosidad. El guardián entre el centeno . Todo el mundo hablaba de él. “Un clásico”, decían. Lo que no esperaba era que Holden Caulfield —con su voz rota, sarcástica, brutalmente honesta— me atrapara como un amigo perdido.

No hay tramas épicas. No hay giros espectaculares. Hay un chico de 16 años que huye de todo: del colegio, de sus padres, de la tristeza. Sobre todo, de la hipocresía del mundo adulto. Y mientras lo seguía por las calles de Nueva York, me sentí como si caminara con él. Porque Holden no narra una historia. Te confiesa su vida.

Su rabia me conmovió. Su ternura con su hermana Phoebe me desarmó. Y sus pensamientos sobre la muerte, el amor y el sentirse fuera de lugar… eso me golpeó de lleno.

¿Quién no se ha sentido un poco perdido, un poco fuera del mapa? ¿Quién no ha querido proteger algo puro en medio del ruido? Eso es lo que Holden quiere: ser el guardián en el centeno. Evitar que los niños caigan al abismo de la adultez.

Salinger escribe sin adornos. Directo. Crudo. Real. Como si no escribiera, sino respirara en el papel.

Terminé el libro con un nudo. No es un final feliz, pero es un final sincero. Me quedé mirando al vacío unos minutos, como si Holden aún me hablara desde la página.

El guardián entre el centeno no es solo un libro. Es una voz. Una herida abierta. Un espejo.

Y ahora, cada vez que veo a alguien callado en un rincón, me pregunto si también está intentando no caer.

The question about giving out your opinion about The Catcher In The Rye is that you feel like everything that you have to say has already been said by everyone else.
But the truth is that human experience (like opinions) are most of the times different inspite of similar. And that's what I believe is the biggest trumph of this book.
I must confess: I was hatting it in the first pages. It was looking like a pointless and superficial narration. I won't say it isn't. But I continued and started to believe there was more to it. Holden's complex personality reflecting the fight he was enduring with his growth and the contradictions he was becoming aware of generated not only some empathy with me as some feeling of needing to observe him. Because the representation of this human experience was quite well done in a perspetive of one person only and what she thinks. It kept me almost wanting to talk to Holden and ask him a few questions. Or not... Because he was dealing with the world and everyone that passed by this would understand. Its not that I am moved. I am delighted with the painting of a personality through his eyes. And I am other eyes standing outside and judjing or being benevolent. I almost passively watch this story.
I think that what made me feel 'sort of depressed' about it in the end was the ending itself. I don't know what to feel abou it. Was it to logical, inevitable, bad, ok, realist, far-fetched,...? I can't decide. But it didn't felt right.