Vindication on Catcher in the Rye!

A. Scott Berg

Wikipedia

In the NYT weekend edition for July 8-9 (2017), A. Scott Berg gives his answers in "By the Book," and I feel vindicated, for when he was asked this question:

Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn't? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?

He answered:

"The Catcher in the Rye." I don't want to sound like a "phony," but I didn't like it when I was 16; and I didn't like it when I picked it up again 50 years later . . . and couldn't finish it.

As readers of my blog know, I also dislike the book, so much so that I wrote this poem when Salinger died:

Requiem for J. D. S.

It came to me the other day,
Just when you died -- I had to say --
"Hmm, that's a shame. Not young, but full
Of unkept promise plumbable."

With that, a shrug, and tearless eyes,
I met your overdue demise;
My wife's response was just, you know,
"I thought he died a while ago."

Your life, a shabby subterfuge,
Your death, unreal, not dark or huge,
No shock of it to register --
Except but where it did occur.

You'll also find this poem in my recent book of poems, Radiant Snow. And yes, I'm borrowing from Updike.