Tales from the Decabiography

3 The novel catcher in the rye had a profound influence in me

It was way back senior high when we were told to make this book report in our english class, you're supposed to read some book and write something about it. I had just finished reading the iliad novel then but I couldn’t use it for my book report because the same teacher already discussed it in class earlier during the semester and she would probably say I heard the story from her, though the novel I read was the full version from homer.

Before reading the iliad, I was also busy writing my own novel, I even forgot about that for a long time already, only when I started recalling these events before the catcher in the rye that it came back to my head. It was about some kid during ancient macedonia who tamed alexander’s horse before he did and something crazy like that and it killed me. I gave it to my history teacher and she never acknowledged it or anything soon thereafter, it was probably a terrible novel anyway, if some of my friends did get to read it.

Anyway I decided to go get a new book to read, I usually dig out old books from my old man’s bin in the stock room, he had a lot of books when he was about my age, and by chance of fate I opened one plastic bag which had around eight old books or so. I picked out the book doctor zhivago because the weird name for a doctor like that felt like he was a mad psychopath or something. But doctor zhivago was quite thick and I felt it will probably eat much of my goddam time reading it, so I turned to the smaller red book beside it and pulled it out.

The title didn’t make any sense, I first thought that it were about some baseball player in a rye field who’s always playing for the outfield. Nobody told me about it and I tried asking my old man if he remembers anything about it and he just said it’s about some kid who got kicked out of school, so I read the book and I got hooked yet I didn’t know how. I gave my report to my english teacher which was practically bland like water and all, telling her the same thing that it was about some kid who got kicked out of school.

I was done with my book report but I went on reading the book over and over again because I sort of liked it, imer once said it’s the book’s form of english. I realized I liked it because it can deliver to the reader a sense of depression and cynicism in its simple slang english, and in a very conscious state of a first person perspective, and I learned to put into words the same depression, cynicism, non-conformist and pragmatism in my goddam brain before it eats me inside out.

My father got it when he was nineteen, I took it from him when I was fifteen and the book just turned forty this year, I don’t think it could survive another generation. I got elle a copy about two years ago, I bought the book and later met up with edward at a convenience store at ortigas around midnight to get some beers. edward saw the book inside the transparent plastic bag, I told him I was going to give it to elle, he said why the hell was I giving to a girl because it’s supposed to be a guy’s book, and he paused and said.

“that ’s just so gay”