OR Blog

This past week I have been unable to find my copy of The Catcher in the Rye so I have switched over to The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom. I chose this book because I saw it sitting in my parents’ room and I was looking for something to read on my plane ride over break. The book starts out telling the story of an old man named Eddie, who works at an amusement park that when described reminded me of Navy Pier in Chicago. Since the book is about Eddie’s time spent in heaven, his death comes very early on. While trying to save a young girl, Eddie is hit by a free falling roller coaster car that detached from the ride. Eddie wakes up in heaven, completely unaware of his surroundings. In between sections of the book, flashbacks from various birthdays of Eddie’s are illustrated. A man from his past approaches him and begins to explain to him how heaven works. According to the Blue Man, whenever somebody dies, 5 people from their past come talk to them about their life and what its significance was. These people could be close family members or random strangers that they never even spoke with. The Blue Man was Eddie’s first person, and he explained to him how when Eddie was about eight years old, he darted in front of his car, and the Blue Man had to swerve and ended up getting killed by a semi truck. In my opinion, Albom chose to have the Blue Man be Eddie’s first person to show that although you may not realize it, everything you do affects other people and can have a big impact on their life.

The Catcher in the Rye, Blog 2

So far, I am really enjoying The Catcher in the Rye. It’s a nice change from some of the other books I have read recently, because it moves very fast and doesn’t give you random unnecessary details (The Odyssey…). I like this because while J.D. Salinger doesn’t feed you detail after detail, the ones he does include are very good imagery and stick with you throughout the book. Another thing I really enjoy about this book is the characterization that starts at the beginning of the book. In only 40 pages, I already feel like I know the main character as well as some of the supporting characters very well. I like this because the more you know of a character at the beginning of a book, the better you can watch them change and develop throughout the novel. A thing that’s weird for me though is the fact that the book is in first person, and it is from a teenage boy’s perspective. The last few books I have read have either been in third person (All the Pretty Horses), or first person from either an older person’s perspective (various Jodi Picoult novels), or first person from a teenage girl’s point of view (Twilight). This is interesting for me because I am getting a perspective that I usually wouldn’t get from a situation like the one the main character is in.

Q2 Outside Reading

For this quarter's outside reading book, I have chosen to read The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. I chose this book because several people have told me that it's one of their favorites, so I figured I would give it a shot. I've only read about 10 or 15 pages so far, but I think i will really like it, and I am excited to get into the book.