The Catcher in the Rye

Rating:
Summary: Cynical and wonderful
Review: This, along with Catch-22 and The Blind Assassin are amoung my favorite novels right now. Salinger does a great job at creating an amusing unreliable narrator (Holden Caulfield). At the beginning, Holden is failing out of his fourth school and has yet to tell his parents. Holden doesn't want responsiblity; he just wants to be young and running around fields (Catcher in the Rye). As I myself am 16, I found this novel especially relevent and can understand what he feels. Holden is overly cynical, to the point of hilarity, of everything. He espcially hates phonies, but pretty much has something to say about everyone. There are very few people that he respects. So while you are reading this, remember that while Holden is a very intriuging character and is very amusing to read (its like reading gossip at some points), he has faults, too.

Rating:
Summary: A Great book about nothing, and most everthing...
Review: The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger is a great book. You come to love Caulfield as a character. Because of this, most people (scratch the AYN RAND lovers) feel at least a bit emotionally attached to him. Laughing at his stupid mannerisms. Pointing out his flaws just seconds after he already has done so himself, although he doesn't do anything to change his poor self-worth. He is a perfect model of a narcissistic procrastinator. I loved the book. It was about absolutely nothing...

Rating:
Summary: Why all the fuss?
Review: Perhaps the most overrated book I have ever read. Holden Caulfield is a slacker. I didn't give a darn what happened to him.
Go ahead and read it so you can hold your nose when others start to wax poetic about how they relate to it.

Rating:
Summary: Keep the Dust off this Book
Review: The Catcher of the Rye is an excellent book told through the cynical views of Holden Caulfield, a troubling teenager in the midst of sort out his ideas, beliefs and values, and figuring out what is next in life.

After finding out that he was to be again expelled from his prep boarding school, Holden decided to get away and go home early for Christmas break. As he travels home and explore Manhattan doing whatever whenever he feels. Holden does lots of wandering around he's hotel room and bar observing people and trying to entertain himself so that he would not feel so lonely and sad. He feels depressed from getting expelled and tries to cheer himself up by doing whatever he wants. Although Holden was feeling almost hopeless, through numerous chats with people and alone time, Holden clears his mind ending the book in a fresher more optimistic view.

The book has a rather simple plot dealing with Holden and his self conflicting issues mainly of wanting to grow up and be accepted as an adult but also wishing to become a kid again. As his ideas flexures between he wants and what he thinks he wants and his opinions. This back and forth thoughts and tension between opinions fills the pages, leaving the reader with a frustrating yet suspense feeling. As Holden's thoughts become clearer the ideas straightened out leaving the reader with a pleasing feeling.

This rather addictive book is not a plot through the actions but a plot through the thoughts. A reader would either really enjoy it or hate it. If you're looking for a more cynical bedtime read, dust this book off the shelf.

Rating:
Summary: A book i like
Review: There are two kinds of books in my opinion, one is the kind of book which you hope it never has an ending, but it ends quickly. The other kind of book is the one that you want it to end quickly, but it¡¦s so boring and looks like takes forever to finish it.
The catcher in the rye is the first kind of book. It ends so quickly before you start to realize it. The author J.D. Salinger portrayed the character so well that it almost sounded like the book is written vividly through the mind of a 16-year-old teenager. The book explores character¡¦s mind but not really showing the motive of his actions. Therefore there is a lot of space for the reader to kind of guess of what is going on in the character¡¦s mind. Salinger uses little symbolism and he doesn¡¦t focus on imagery descriptions.
The theme of this book grabs the reader in; it is dealing about how teenager always think there believes are correct and would not accept other people¡¦s opinion or think about challenging their own. This kind of viewpoint that is used to look at the world will create and cause the generation gap to occur.
The generation gap is often used to express the contradiction and the dispute between parental expectation and teenager¡¦s behavior. Most of the time teenagers are facing lots of unknown and can¡¦t figure the way out. The harder they tried the more depress they might get. That¡¦s the depression which is all that mattered. You can retreat to the shell for safety or try again facing another unknown or even go to diminish yourself. It¡¦s not so easy for the signs of depression to ware off. Nevertheless you have to live with it and each time when one faces a different situation they have to take it in an optimistic way or either a negative way.
What¡¦s more, J.D Salinger imitate the writing style of an immature narrator and thoroughly captured his emotions which are why I appreciate this book so much that not only it is well written but I can also relate to Holden Caulfield who are one of those teenagers who are very conservative and wanting to keep the innocence of childhood alive. Sometimes I feel the same way too from which captures me and fascinated me about how this book is written so the reader can judge the narrator with their own perspective and experience. Because I believe that everyone has their own story to tell and uncertainties in life.

Rating:
Summary: "I'm afraid of people who like Catcher In The Rye"
Review: After you read this book, go search out the Too Much Joy song, "William Holden Caulfield". It's on the Cereal Killers release.

"They called me William Holden Caulfield; it was no compliment. What's wrong with William Holden Caulfield? All that stuff that bummed me out ten years ago still bums me today, and boy I wanna know - who died and made you my mom and me some stupid kid? How can we forget all those things we did?"

"I'm afraid of people who like Catcher In The Rye. Yeah I like it too, but someone tell me why people he'd despise say I feel like that guy. I don't wanna grow up cause I don't wanna die."

I'm just a few months away from turning 40. Maybe it's my midlife crisis that caused me to want to go back and reread this book for the umpteenth time. I go back and read it every few years, and it always moves me. The line from the song notwithstanding, I think alot of people relate to Holden, because alot of us are still struggling to figure out who we are - just like Holden.

I've always gotten a kick out of the things that bug Holden, and how he hates them specifically, not generally. Wish I had the book in front of me, but to do that I'd have to go back into the bedroom and run the risk of waking my wife. For Holden, that would be something like "It bugs me when guys are reviewing a book and won't go back into their bedrooms to get it because they are afraid of waking up their wife. I hate that." See what I mean? He says it as though it's something that has happened thousands of times over instead of something that just happened.

Holden is a lovable, insecure kid who is struggling to "keep it real", whatever that means. I think we all find something to relate to in his insecurity and his frustration with how the world doesn't meet with his pathological view of it. It's sad to think that high schools would have banned this book. Oh no, we can't have our students actually thinking. We just want them to feel good about themselves...

It just hit me that the Replacements song "Sixteen Blue" fits nicely here as well. And let's not forget "Roller-skate Skinny" by The Old 97s. (That's how Holden described Phoebe - "she's skinny. Roller-skate Skinny.") Hey, that's a good idea for a mix - what should I call it? "Blues for Holden Caulfield" maybe?

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Fiction
Review: Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is one of the greatest novels ever written by an American author. And the sad story of Holden Caulfield is probably the best novel ever written about adolescence. Like all great fiction, this book has many layers and angles, from memorable characters, a gripping (and subtle) plot, poignancy, and humor. The underlying conflict within Holden between childhood innocence and adult phoniness, a conflict we all face in life, is timeless. You could read this book five times and find new insights in it each time. A stunning work. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Catcher in the Rye
Review: I do not believe this is exceptional in meaning, nor do I think it revolutionized the world of literature and thinking, but it is a very good book. Though it does not touch upon incredibly deep topics, it does have meaning, and is certainly a classic novel. Perhaps the greatest aspect, though, is the main character, Holden Caulfield. Many people believe they can connect with this character and understand his troubles. The amount of depth to him is amazing relative to some novels. For this, I highly recommend the book.

Rating:
Summary: Deserves all the praise it gets. It really does.
Review: I read The Catcher in the Rye a couple of years ago in high school, and since then, I have recommended it to a number of people. Most of them have hated it. This is one of those books that you either love or hate, and I can't always pin what type of person is going to hate it or love it. Nevertheless, I am definitely one of the people who really connects with Holden, and I have returned to this novel over and over.

I really connect with Holden in this novel because basically, it is about the problem of pain, and everyone has dealt with that biggy before. I really think Holden's struggle in the novel is an authentic one, and it strikes me like my own. Holden is devastated by the loss of his brother Allie. He loved him and the world took him away, and now Holden does not know how to act in such a world. He doesn't know how to be intimate with anyone anymore. He doesn't understand how other adults cope, and he thinks they are phony. Of course, many of them are phonies, and Holden himself has resorted to being one in an attempt to divert himself from the painful realities of living. He would rather project his false self than let his real one be hurt, but Holden, unlike many of those around him, is at least on the way to not being authentic. I think all of his actions throughout the novel center around his struggle with pain. He is either trying to divert himself (with Sunny and Sally) or he is trying to fight through it (with Phoebe and possibly, Jane). And near the end, I think he is finally beginning to make a breakthrough, when he is able to care for Phoebe and resolve to stay near her despite the fact that she is a person who he cannot control and who may hurt him. He seems to find some redemption from Phoebe's love.

I really find The Catcher in the Rye to be one of the great books I've read. I think there are so many things you can take away from it, and I feel that Holden's struggles are so real and so relavent to (at least my) life. The novels one of the true classics of the last century, and I can't really see its popularity diminishing for a while.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Novels Ever
Review: This was an awesome work. It is truly a classic book. Brilliant!