The Engima of J.D. Salinger

I recently reread J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, and came away pleasantly surprised by how well the novel stands up after all these years—since it was first published; since I last read it. The novel is iconic in our culture and written about ad nauseum, some critics delighting in panning the novel, others treating it like a religious text. I sat down with the novel as just another book, and found that it was an enormously enjoyable read.