It took me awhile to decide how many stars I would give this book, mainly because it took me awhile to decide whether I liked the book or not. 
 I decided at last, that I do like it. 
 I've been wanting to read this book since forever, mostly because it was such a famous book. Everybody called it a 'classic' and it was a must-read. So when I found the book, I bought and read it. Now, I live in Indonesia, where we do not have to read this book for school (as i understand students do in the States), so my knowledge of the book mainly came from movies and such. I know it was the book that John Lennon's killer read and it created quite a hype. So I was curious. But other than that I knew nothing about it. 
 So, I read the book not knowing what the book was about. I was quite taken back when it turned out to "just" be about a 16 year-old boy going through depression. When I finished the book I was like "What? That was it?" and was disappointed. I was ready to give a one star review and write how lame the book was. And then I realized my mistake 
 My main mistake in reading the book was that when I read it I kept looking for "something". Something meaning the main element to why the book was so popular. Like maybe a climax, a certain mind-blowing twist or some certain plot. 
 I called this a mistake because after I finished the book, I realized it was the main reason I felt that I had missed something. I was trying to hard looking for a climax in the book, that I missed the point of the book. The point being that there was not supposed to be a climax. It is what it is. And that was the beauty of the book. 
 I overlooked the complexity of Holden, the character. I overlooked how wonderful Salinger was able to capture the inner working minds of a 16 year old teenager who had difficulty understanding his world. How he was coping with his experiences, society's expectations and his own expectations of himself. I overlooked that the non-existence of the climax was provided on purpose. 
 I actually didn't like Holden personally. And I guess he wasn't meant to be that kind of protagonist. He was just who he was, whether you liked him or not. However, I do understand him. I understand why he feels and think like he does, because Holden's voice was that clear. And also I kind of went through the same angry and depressed faze when I was his age, although not to that extent. In the end you did feel like you knew him personally. Salinger did an amazing job at that. I can kind of imagine how I would feel as teenager back then in the 50's and reading this book for the first time. I would've loved it. So I do understand why the book was (is?) so popular. 
 I majored in psychology, and if only I read this book back when I was in college, I would've chosen Holden as the character I'd analyze for an assignment in Personality Psychology class. He is one complex character I tell ya.