The Catcher in the Rye

Rating:
Summary: Disappointment then and now
Review: Here is a book I read about 10 years ago in high school because of a class. I enjoyed every book I got my hand on in school... except this one. Our teacher attempted to get us excited about reading this book by telling us "they" were trying to ban it. It was one of the hardest books to choke down! It felt like a sad attempt at being an annoying teenager.

I tried to read this book again a couple of months ago. This critically acclaimed book could not be that bad. No, sorry still whiny and pointless. It's full of characters I don't care to know or even get to if I did. I understand if drivel was a reason to be banned then I could see why this would be a challenged book.

Rating:
Summary: Why is this a classic?? I wish I could give it less than 1*!
Review: This book is so random!! More random than Alice in Wonderland even!! It's about a boy who's flunked out of like five schools and is prolonging telling his parents about his latest release by spending five days in the city. WHO FREAKIN CARES?!!? NOT ME!

I can understand why people like books such as Gone With the Wind, Rebecca, and even Of Mice and Men. But why this?? There's almost no moral (except the last chapter), no plot, and no characters you even get close to! Every other word that comes out of Holden's mouth is a curse and that really annoyed me! He used the words "phony" and "that killed me" so many times, I could almost tell ahead of time when he was going to say them!

And another thing! You know how he's always talking about Jane? And then we don't even MEET HER! I WAS SO MAD!!! The star I gave this book goes to and ONLY to the last sentence!

The rest is a big fat waste of time! Dull! Boring! A real snoozer! Don't, I repeat! DON'T waste your time on it!!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Novel! - Don't Hesitate to Pick up a copy!
Review: What is the story about? It is an improbable story, to say the least. The book begins with Holden Caulfield, the 17-year-old narrator and protagonist, addressing the reader from a sanitarium or mental hospital in Southern California. He is about to tell us about a remarkable 48 hours that happened in the last December. Then we go into a long, long flashback in Holden's mind.

Holden starts his story at Pencey Prep School, on the Saturday afternoon of the old-school-rivalry football game with arch-adversary Saxon Hall. Holden is the manager of the school's fencing team, and he loses the team's equipment on the subway, and the story goes complicatedly into a freakish but funny nightmare from there, with Holden giving us a wry (RYE?) commentary all the way to the end. The end, as we said at the beginning, takes place at a mental hospital. After reading the book you will fully understand why.

One of the main themes of the book is the struggle between that which is authentic and that which is artificial. Holden wants to cut through artificiality to truth, but it evades him time after time.

The book also wrestles with the problem of innocence. Holden likes innocence. He sees a world of corruption and he sees very few innocents in it; most are darkly guilty as if touched by a contagion. But he cannot decide where innocense really resides.

Then there is the theme of death, a consistent harbinger throughout the book. Even though Holden is only 17, we can almost hear his own biological clock ticking.

If you haven't read the book, nothing could make you understand. If you are reading it for the first time, chances are nothing will be able to make you put it down. A great, great book! Two other highly recommended titles [e-mail] by Tom Grimes, which reads like The Catcher in the Rye on Prozac (incredibly funny!) and The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, an unconventional coming-of-age story set in New York's grungy East Village. These 3 books comprise my Holiday recomendations through Amazon.com! I try to avoid long lines at bookstores when I can!

Rating:
Summary: Too dumb to be ironic
Review: As I was reading this book, I was waiting for the author to finally get critical of Holden's shallow self-pity, self-gratifying rants, and senseless behavior. I thought such a classic and highly regarded book could not possibly be endorsing Holden's meek frustration, ironic arrogance, and outright paranoia. I was waiting for this book to contrast Holden's senselessness with a clear-thinking and stable character, but such a contrast never came. The possibility remains that the author was offering a VERY subtle criticism of Holden, but this book just doesn't seem to carry enough intellectual weight to pull off such subtle irony.

The book details three days in the life of it's protagonist Holden Caulfield . It presents him in several situations (some run-of-the-mill and some a little spectactular) and shows how mentally unstable he is. The book then proceeds to blame his mental ills on society, saying that modern society is an alienating place for teenagers. This is true of course, but only for somebody without anything to believe in, somebody cynical, somebody like Holden. The book glorifies Holden's mental instability by making him out to be the victim, somebody who can't help his senselessness.

This book would have been great had the author realized that simply detailing sensitive person's alienation is not enough for a good novel. He needs to get to the root of that alientation (Holden's cynicism) and ACTUALLY MAKE A POINT ABOUT IT. This book is so highly regarded because in it cynical people have found a justification for their senselessness.

"He who writes for fools will always find a large public"
-Shopenhauer

Rating:
Summary: catcher in the rye
Review: The novel begins with Holden, a boy in his late teens who has experienced a life with many mishaps and unjust occurrences. Pencey was the school he attended most recently, being one of many schools he had dropped out of during the past few years. He left school, ventured out on his own in the busy, chaotic city of New York. There, he met up with many acquaintances, experienced the truth in his life, and learned lessons to help improve his future. He faces the decision of what he is to do with his life, and ends up making a predictable pick.
There were many educational, enjoyable scenes in this novel. One that kept me on my toes was when Holden was first beat up by his dorm mate, Stradlater. It was suspenseful, and the way he handled the situation helped reveal his personality. Another exciting part was when Holden met up with a fellow student's mother on a trolley. He told many lies to her, and ended up regretting it after he found out she was a genuine, generous woman, much unlike her own son. When the prostitute arrived at Holden's hotel room, something rotten was bound to happen. The description of this chapter kept me reading. I enjoyed reading about the way Holden described his everyday surroundings, and what he liked, disliked, which was obvious, because he was such an open character. There were many aspects that vexed me, because he was repetitive with his attitude. He seemed to despise nearly everything, all of the time. Even cheap luggage would make an impact on his judgment of a person, and he had many other prejudices along with that. At times, the writing style seemed dull and boring because he irritated the reader with meaningless remarks. Many topics that were discussed seemed quite pointless, and Holden lacked alot of common sense as a character.
I would recommend this novel to readers 14 years and older. Some material is inappropriate for younger people. The book is easy to get into, and mostly keeps you interested. The main characters are complicated and easy to both adore and abhor. The book taught me a lot about life alone through the eyes of a teenager. Because of his peer pressure, he had to make many decisions that hurt him and hurt people he loved. The novel expressed bravery and a boy able to forgo his past and attempt to start a new life.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: The Catcher in the Rye is the ultimate outsider's book. It follows the adventures of Holden Caulfield. At the beginning of the book, Holden has just been expelled from his elite prep school. In fact, this has been the third prep school he has flunked out of. Holden's problem is that he is hypersensitive to the faults of others and he easily recognizes the hypocracy in the world. He's always spotting out phonies and the irritating habits of others. He goes into the city and falls into a depression and nearly loses his sanity.

This is a very powerful book. If you have serious problems with depression, I would recommend avoiding this. It won't be very good for your mental health. However, if you are well-adjusted, this is an excellent book. You can really delve into the mind of someone who is really losing their touch with society. I'm sure that everyone has a little bit of Holden Caulfield in them.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This is an amazing book. I first read the book for a very silly reason, my favorite band (Green Day) wrote a song about Holden Caulfield so I decided if it was their favorite book, I had to give it a shot. A lot of my friends were also reading in in school so I figured it was worth a shot. I bought the book, not having a single clue what it was about. I was expecting some stupid book about life on a farm or something. It was so much better than I expected. I completely related to the feeling of just not fitting in anywhere, and not being sure of who you are. I completely fell in love with Holden Caulfied! For anyone who is thinking of reading this book, I say read it! You'll be sorry if you don't. There is quite a bit of strong language and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone uncomfortable with "bad words". But read it!!!

Rating:
Summary: YOU DONT NEED TO RELATE TO A STORY TO ENJOY IT
Review: I was surprised to see the last review. The reader did not like the writing because she was not young enough to appreciate it. If someone needs to relate to this story in order to appreciate it, they are missing the best thing about this book.
This book lets you look at the world through the eyes of a lunatic. To see his warped views and the reactions of people around him from HIS standpoint. The goal of the read does not seem to earn sympathy for the guy or understand teenagers; its purpose seems to be pure entertainment.... or maybe some understanding when you meet a crazy person.
If you have a good sense of humor, you can pick up this book and start reading from any paragraph and start laughing in seconds. Unless of course if simple-minded cynicism offends you... in which case you would fail to meet the former requirement anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Read it!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorite books. The first time I read this book I was 13 years old, I wasn't very interested in reading books, but a friend of my family said that this book I would like. And he was right. The way that the narrator (the main character in the history) tells the history don't let you get bored when you read it, because it tries to be similar to the talk of teenagers. Something that I noticed was the parallel between Holden and my own life. I really recommend this book. After I read it I realized that I should think more about my acts and my life.

Rating:
Summary: A classic for the ages
Review: This book is a masterpiece that never grows old. J.D. Salinger brilliantly allows the reader to experience a lost weekend in New York through the eyes of a troubled, cynical teen-ager. On the surface, the book is entertaining--particularly the first-person slang in which the story is told. But beyond the surface, the story hits on numerous issues pertaining to adolescent development, and I sense that different readers will see different elements coming to the surface, depending on their own circumstances and experiences. It only takes a few hours to read, but is very rich and thought-provoking.