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Summary: A classic - you have to read this!
Review: Never in my life have I read a book where I could almost hear what the main character was thinking. Holden Caulfield is the most extraordinarily developed character I've ever read. It is impossible not to relate to him - he is the ultimate example for what it is like to be a teenager and unsure of where your life is headed. You must read this book!
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Summary: Key to the male mindset
Review: When I first began reading this book, I didn't understand Holden's viewpoint or why he said and did the things he did. About midway through the book, I discussed it with my one of my male friends, who informed me that to truly understand where he was coming from, it helped to be male, but that it might help to try and read it from the male perspective. Suddenly, everything guys had ever done that didn't make sense started to make sense. My advice to girls who read it and are puzzled: Try reading it from a male viewpoint. All the things that teen boys do will cease to be completely irrational.
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Summary: A Great Read
Review: I first read THE CATCHER IN THE RYE twenty years ago and I return to itevery few years because I always find it so rewarding. What makes it asuperb novel is the voice of the narrator, Holden Caulfield. He isunreliable -- we know he must have a tenderness deeper than what he tellsus. It's difficult to create an unreliable narrator, because the reader isasked both to like and dislike the main character. But when it is done wellit is wonderfully engaging.In the years since I first read it I've looked often for a good narratorthat was as likably unlikable. I finally found one in a new novel --- LOVESONGS OF THE TONE-DEAF, by Asher Brauner -- which I recommend to anyone wholiked CATCHER IN THE RYE. Both novels are about alienation -- the ways inwhich young people feel no one understands them -- and the ways in whichthat assumption is probably true.Read both these books -- you'll love them.
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Summary: In a world of phonies...
Review: Holden Caulfield, a brash sixteen-year-old at Pencey Prep, decides to set out on his own a few days earlier than expected due to failing out of school, which wouldn't be the first time. After several confrontations, Holden bids a farewell to Pencey, also known as a "phony factory", hoping to avoid his parents' wrath. After leaving, Holden plummits into the depths of depression, isolating himself and creating his own sense of loneliness. In his new state of ire despair, he finds himself in even more awkward situations, and with nobody to bail him out. In a desperate attempt to salvage what little happiness he can muster, Holden goes home to see his younger sister, who convinces him to stay. It is then that he decides to face the music and start anew.
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Summary: A satirical view on society
Review: In J.D. Salinger's novel, this is not just the story of pessimist Holden Caulfield but a satirical view on the current state of society and and the loss of innocence. Such is the character of Holden's dead brother Allie who sybolized the goodness that was in society which is now gone. And Pheobe-who Holden so wanted to protect and keep innocent-is what is still left that's pure and good in society and thus that's why Holden wanted her to stay exactly the way she is. The ducks in the pond that Holden was obsessed with-wondering where they went after the pond freezes over-represent the innocence of youth and the shortness of childhood. And he's wondering where it goes and why children have to enter the phony world of adulthood so fast. Holden sees this destruction of innocence which makes him the cynical and depressed kid that he is.
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Summary: Holden Caulfield, In The Flesh
Review: The Catcher In The Rye is the perfect book for a highschool student. This book deals with problems that are still around today, like; unacceptance of peers, trouble with the oppisite sex, And just all around wanting to be grown up. Holden Caulfield deals with all of these problems in many ways. He speaks with his brother Allie, who is dead. He also Isolates himself by falling into a fantasy world of his own. This was a good book that Salinger deserves much praise for
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Summary: Simply the best book ever written.
Review: This book is absolutely amazing. I've never laughed so much in my entire life. It is a wonderful satire of modern society and the participants that make it up.
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Summary: A great book!
Review: I read this book not knowing anything at all about it, only that it had an infamous reputation. As I was reading it I related to Holden, which worried me as I knew that this book has been an 'inspiration' for serial killers! Some of his insights were spot on the mark, and I thought I was was some sort of weirdo for appreciating them! I carried on reading with a sense of impending doom as I thought something was going to hurt Holden, or Holden was going to hurt somebody, which didnt happen. Just shows you what a bit of commotion can do, sometimes its not as bad as first thought once you judge it for yourself. A wonderful book full of emotion, which I am glad I have read.
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Summary: Hardly "great", this is a boring, cynical diatribe
Review: Judging from most of the other reviews listed here, the legions of hopelessly disaffected and jaded among us found this to be a most engrossing novel. I fear that those few who have managed to mature out of their self-righteous and idealistic teenage years will find this to be a monotonous, uneventful narrative that is wanting in meaning or purpose. While the book may serve as a reasonably good study of the cynical adolescent mind, that is its limit. With each page I expected some gleam of insight--or at least a plot twist--to emerge out of the confused, miserable rant, but instead I was dragged reluctantly through to the end of the novel without being offered even a shred of intellectual interest. If you're seeking great American literature, stick to Hemingway or Fitzgerald.
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Summary: Sixteen forever
Review: Oooh, if Holden Caulfield could hear all these people calling this book a "masterpiece" or a "classic," he'd puke. The book is still very fresh after all these years, and awfully funny. After rereading it recently, I realized how many of our good writers of the past twenty years, people like Raymond Carver, Don Delillo, Lorrie Moore, Thom Jones, and Gish Jen, owe a debt to J.D. Salinger. I also realized how sweet he is, Holden Caulfield, and how lonely. He breaks my heart. What do you imagine becomes of him? He won't be happy, will he?
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