I respectfully disagree. Did you read the novel as a teen or an adult? I think it makes a difference. My 16 year-old who suffers from depression read The Catcher in the Rye and found it very relevant for her generation as much as I did for mine. The idea of authenticity versus being a "phony" , the painful exclusion of cliques, his depression, the way he mistakes his existential crisis and depression for wisdom is so very teenage. He thinks he knows everything but he gets it all so wrong. The fact that my teen can like it because she thinks he's righteous and justified in how he views things, and I can still appreciate it now knowing that I felt that same way then but see it differently now means the novel still speaks across time.

The tone of the novel seems commonplace today and stories about privileged white males are admittedly not a good look, but whenever we revisit great works we have to imagine them in their time and place to appreciate how ground-breaking they were. Salinger's story too--the fact that he became a recluse away from the media is so relevant today and it's painful reminder of just how damaging being in the "limelight" can be and every single article about why today's teens suffer bears this out.