JD Salinger’s wry, subversive classic inspired novelist Joseph O’Connor to be a writer. He reflects on why this story of a disaffected teenager remains as fresh and transgressive as ever In 1981, when I was 17, my first girlfriend gave me a paperback of her dad’s favourite novel. I’d never hear...
Source: [Guardian International](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jul/16/i-felt-holden-was-talking-to-me-alone-the-catcher-in-the-rye-at-75)