Whatever its literary merits, "Catcher in the Rye" rocked my little adolescent world. I read it because I was a voracious reader at the time. Looking at the obit I realize I must've read it not too long after it was published. I had never read anything like it before and it shocked me and annoyed me and fascinated me and struck a nerve I didn't know was there to be struck. To understand its cult status you maybe need to have been there.
I went on to read the rest of Salinger's works as they became available. The Glass family stories struck a nerver as well, but a different nerve. By the time I was reading them, the term was "blew my mind." I introduced my mother to them, and she loved them.
After a lifetime of moves, I still have those books.