Don't Go Searching For A Mermaid, Son, If You Don't Know How To Swim

[snogged]

1. The temp agency I applied finally came through for me this week. I will be filling in as a receptionist for Power Packer (a factory that specializes in hydraulics) from July 5th to July 9th as their regular receptionist is going on vacation. I have to go in for training tomorrow so hopefully that goes well.

2. I finished Catcher in the Rye this afternoon. I know this book is supposed to be one of those classic American novels and has been declared a literary accomplishment and all that. But it just didn't do it for me. I found it whiny, uninteresting, and repetitious. I get that it's supposed to be all about teenage apathy and angst, but I felt like there was nothing to connect to. I didn't feel moved by his recollections of his dead brother. I didn't feel connected to the pain he was going through. I just didn't feel anything but bordeom.
It also didn't help much that most of the women in the book were portrayed as sexual objects instead of strong female characters that could stand their own against Holden. I did quite like the younger sister, Phoebe. It didn't surprise me that she wanted to find a role model in her older brother and yet, she came across as far more mature than he did. She seemed more aware of the world around her and she didn't hate everything. As for the ending, I agree with some of the other reviewers, open endings can be great, but this one just felt mediocre at best and I'm thrilled to be done with this junk.

3. I've watched two episodes of The Vampire Diaries. It's no Buffy, of course, but I like it way more than Twilight.

Comments

[hellolamppost17.livejournal.com]

I recently had a conversation with someone about Catcher in the Rye, and how basically it's a book with a window. The window being about 13-16 when you can relate to the book most, and have it stick out as being something that means something. Read it for the first time outside the window, and suddenly the book isn't magical but kind of stupid.

So I get why you're not a huge fan of it. (Did that make sense? I'm working on two hours of sleep right now.... so I might sound a little off kilter.)

P.S. As soon as you said temp agency, all I could think about was Dead Like Me.

[snogged.livejournal.com]

See, the thing is though, I worked with emotionally troubled adolescents for a year and saw how their lives and stories unfolded. They swore like the devil, got expelled from their schools, and yet...unlike Holden, there was something irrevocably charming about them that made it possible to connect on their level.

PS. Hee! I wanna work at Happy Time!