Okay, so let me start by saying that I haven't read any of J.D Salinger's work (cue gasp) so i thought I probably wouldn't relate to the book and would feel like an outsider looking at a ceremony that I don't really get. But, to my pleasant surprise, I was wrong.
I started the book with little enthusiasm. There was no tingling in my hands, the way I felt when I first started reading Big Magic or Gone Girl. But as I read on, I realised how much I relate to it. How much anyone would relate to it. We always assume that artists (writers, painters, crafters, more recently bloggers and vloggers, etc.) have the best job on the world. They get to do what they love while making money. We never see that it took them a lot to get where they are. We never look at the mundane jobs they had to take to keep their art going. Never think about the million rejections, the sub-standard quality of life they had to endure to keep their art alive.
This book tells us all that and more with very little ceremony. It is a beautiful coming of age story that is crisply written. I don't know why but when i read the book, it made me nostalgic. Made me smile. About what? I don't know. I would urge every book lover to read this book. Not because its brilliant but because it celebrates writing.
And guess what? I think I will finally read Catcher in The Rye. :D
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