Rating:  Summary: Excellent, if you can stomach it Review: Well, I had to read this book for English, and it was a mixed experience. First, for the bad. One of the most annoying parts is the language. Maybe it's because I'm a modern teen, but the language was so annoying, it made me want to stop reading. I mean, he keeps calling everything crumby, and calls everyone a phony. I realize I do the same thing with different words, but it's really annoying reading them. The second and last bad thing is how depressing it is. Again, maybe its because im 14, but he says everything "annoyed the (censored) out of him". I mean, every little thing annoys and depresses him. And then there's some weird stuff at the end. These 2 things made me really want to stop reading, but I'm glad I finished. Besides those bad things, the rest of the book is really good. Its narrarated in a very unique, and strangely pleasing way. The author manages to ctach your interest in even the littlest things, and there are some really good parts. Overall this was an incredible book, but you need to be able to stomach some annoying language, and many depressing scenes.
Rating:  Summary: Best psychological novel Review: An ageless story about the feelings of teenagers as they are lost in an exclusively adult world. The novel makes it very clear that these teenagers are tomorrow's adults, hence the reason for the suffering among teenagers of all eras.
Rating:  Summary: One of the best, read it 10 years ago, never forgot it Review: I read this book in English class my freshman year of high school. I remember my teacher saying "Whether you love this book or hate it, you will always remember Holden Caufield." To this day, I still love this book. If you have never read it, you are missing out.
Rating:  Summary: Definitely worth reading! Review: I absolutely felt that this book was worth reading. Most present day teenagers can definitely relate to some aspect of this book. In fact, older adults can also relate back to difficult times during their teenage years. There were many times, as I was reading, that I paused and thought to myself, "this same thing has happened to me or I have often felt the same way about that." Holden's "confession" in his quest to find true understanding and compassion is an odyssey that should be shared with others.
Rating:  Summary: A Pretty Phony Review. Review: A deeply troubled adolescent, the streets of New York, and a Robert Burns poem construct this novel of youth and beauty. Holden Caulfield has become the patron saint of world-weariness, bewildered vulnerability, and a perplexity leaning on desperation. The novel has a narrative voice that verges on the vernacular but consciously avoids it and a minimal plot that is set into action by a single decision. The sorrow in 'Catcher in the Rye' does emerge from solipsist insularity but rather from a deep concern for innocence lost, or in peril. He feels genuine empathy for, among others, a disregarded child walking on the street, ignored by his parents, in danger of being hit by passing cars, another child in a movie theater who is hushed by his mother, herself weeping at a dramatic scene, when he says that he needs to use the bathroom, and young whore named Sunny, too ignorant to realize her own sullen wretchedness. But perhaps most foreboding of all is his fear that perhaps one day his beloved little sister, Phoebe, may become corrupt, or at least a part of our corrupt socety. His distress and pain arise from conviction, and an acknowledgement that it is impossible for a single person to save another.
Rating:  Summary: Unusual type of story that is very interesting Review: The Catcher in the Rye is the most recent novel I have read and any novel that I have been able to read from cover to cover is a good book in my book (haha...) Although I don't read that many books because I simply do not enjoy reading as a hobby but more like a chore, I enjoyed this book by J.D. Salinger about Holden Caulfield. I thought this story was confuseing at first because it starts off in the future, where Holden is in a mental institute. It then reverts to the past where the rest of the story takes place and eventually brings you back to when the story started, in the future. I have no problem recommending this book though because it is so easy to read and all you need is to get started. Even if you don't enjoy reading in general like me you may enjoy this book!
Rating:  Summary: not just for high school students Review: Exhibit A in the case that some of those books they make you read in school are actually pretty good. Catcher in the Rye, as everyone hopefully knows, is the story of one weekend in the life of Holden Caulfield. Holden has just failed out of another Prep School and, after getting in a fight with his roomate, flees to New York City, where he holes up in a hotel rather than go home to face his parents. As his story unfolds, we learn that he had a beloved younger brother who died of leukemia and Holden has been extremely troubled since then. In one of the more memorable images in literature, Holden explains that he sees himself as "The Catcher in the Rye" (he has misremembered a Robert Burns lyric as "if a body catch a body coming through the rye"). He imagines a flock of little kids running through a field of rye along a cliff precipice and he is poised at the edge trying to catch them before they fall. But Holden isn't just troubled by the Mortality of others, as one character tells him, he is spiritually troubled by the morality of others. He rages against all of the "phonies" and "mean people" he meets. What could make a young man feel more ineffectual and helpless than taking responsibilty for the mortality & morality of the whole human race? This story of a young man coming of age, trying to understand the human failings of those around him, is one of the great works of Literature & should rank much higher on the Modern Library list. GRADE: A+
Rating:  Summary: The writing minds. Review: Many things will come to mind when you pick up a copy of The Catcher in the Rye. Some of these may be pleasant and happy; others will be full of complete remorse and utter disgust. Let me elaborate. The book is a faltering attempt to sum up the life of the author. Although he embellishes the story quite a bit, it is easy to see the "subtle" hints that this is what his life was like. The author creates a boy that, by normal standards, has absolutely no connection to 97% of the world's population. By trying to create the feeling of sympathy for the main character, he further entrenches the belief that this person isn't like the rest of the young boys that exist today. Maybe I am off by trying to impress the fact that there should be some type of connection between a regular fiction book and the people that are reading it, but it is absurd to think that the book would be anything to somebody my age. The small problems that arise with the Holden have no relevance and cannot add any depth or meaning. Despite this, I think that there is some value to the book and that it might have a saving grace. What might that be? Well there are some well-written parts. The author has a great attention to detail that, in some cases, can really put the book out as a classic. This can be overlooked by the poor detail in some parts. Another bright spot would be the accurate recreation of some of the ideas that a young boy may have. This doesn't last though. Yet, despite some good detail and some nice insight, this book is an incapable novel that doesn't deserve any recognition or praise. The author clearly doesn't understand that a normal person just doesn't need to read about some childish little boy that can't get a grip on his own problems or have the resolve to get help. Really, can't the writing minds in this nation do better than this? Maybe not.
Rating:  Summary: The Catcher in the Rye Review: The biggest waste of reading material ever written. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen and it never did. To put it in Holden's words, J.D. Salinger is the biggest phony i've ever encountered.
Rating:  Summary: wow Review: i thought the book was great. no need for improvement. this is as good as it gets.
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