It's a loathsome book for some people, even angsty teenagers, because not all of them are angsty for the same reasons.
I didn't enjoy it either when I was reading it, but later appreciated that it depicted a certain kind of angst— that of someone leaving childhood for adulthood, feeling anxious and threatened by this shift, and wishing to just remain as the most adult-like child (the "catcher in the rye" that gives the book its title) instead of having to go through that awkward period of being the most childlike adult.
Under that reading, it's much less irritating, because Holden isn't supposed to be valorized, just understood.
I didn't enjoy it either when I was reading it, but later appreciated that it depicted a certain kind of angst— that of someone leaving childhood for adulthood, feeling anxious and threatened by this shift, and wishing to just remain as the most adult-like child (the "catcher in the rye" that gives the book its title) instead of having to go through that awkward period of being the most childlike adult.
Under that reading, it's much less irritating, because Holden isn't supposed to be valorized, just understood.