I’m not entirely sure why, but it strikes me that The Big Lebowski and The Catcher in the Rye have a fair amount in common. I can’t exactly put my finger on what it is, and I may be off as its been several years since I last read The Catcher in the Rye. Sort of a wandering, semi-aimless main character / protagonist who is easy to relate to, but not necessarily look up to. He’s both profoundly self assured and entirely shake-able. Quirky and largely driven by impulse and outside influences. A certain reoccurring metaphorical theme around falling or feeling like you’re falling. Brushes with the sex industry and art/artists. Unfulfilling / odd sexual encounter, include ones centered around a certain voyeurism and also one night stands. An attempt at denying or avoiding responsibility for the majority of the piece, but ultimately sort of accepting it, but mostly meditating on it. Questions about identity and the inability to correctly identify it and phonies both real and perceived. Being beaten and left curled on the floor by a stranger. A conflict between the real and ideal worlds that the character imagines himself in. Lots of religious overtones that are never really directly addressed. Lots of profanity, to the degree that it occasionally seems purposely excessive. And as much as all of that, the fact that I really like them both, but always end them feeling like I didn’t totally get it. Like there’s something I missed, or that even though I pretty much know what it’s about, I can’t really put my finger on it or explain it.