Yes, it's all true. There was a guy at my uni who liked this book very much and clearly identified with Holden -- he was really whacky. Like, once we had to hand in our end of term paper (an analysis of a literary text). He didn't do it and offered to read something he has written instead. It's possible that he's an unacknowledged genius but that kind of attitude is just not one that's gonna help in life... At least, hating everyone because they're phony is not an outlook I really share. I can definitely relate to it in part -- that's why I liked the book -- but not to the extent he went.

I read "The Catcher" when I was about 17, in English. First of all, I enjoyed the language a lot. I thought something along the lines: "That guy's really strange." I didn't identify with him but I felt a lot of sympathy for him nonetheless. He reminded me of my elder brother a bit. This book wasn't in any way harmful for me, because I was quite mature when reading it. I'd read "Quiet Flows the Don" just before it and after reading about so much suffering and struggling, it seemed that Holden was kinda making mountains out of molehills, or something.

At any rate, I'm glad that book exists.