The Catcher in the Rye

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Summary: One of my Favorite Characters
Review: I decided to read the customer reviews of one of my all-time favorite books, sure that everyone must appreciate the extraordinary writing and character development as I did. I was shocked to see negative, narrow (not to mention grammatically incorrect) reviews. This book is not about having an action-packed plot, or even about "teenage angst, " which seems to be the buzz word. Salinger has drawn Holden to be a pure, true person. He shares ALL his feelings with us. How can the reader NOT relate to him? He holds nothing back; he bears his whole self to us--frustrations, insecurities, confusions, passions and all. He is not just going through the "angst" of being a teenager, but the difficulties of being human. Holden reminds us to experience life with eyes and hearts open. I fell in love with this character when I first read the book at 16, and still hold him dear to my heart at 29. This book should be on every persons reading list, from high school to old age. I thank Mr. Galbraith for introducing me to this book, which I continually re-read, and Salinger for such a beautiful, insightful, endearing character.

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Summary: A Touching Story That Reaches The Heart
Review: We recently finished reading The Catcher In The Rye in my American Literature Honors class in high school. I found the book very enjoyable! It is interesting how the book was written several years ago, but it does not seem to be from the past. The style of writing is thrilling yet descriptive at the same time. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a book that seems very life-like and true.

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Summary: Cathcer is the cynical teenagers bible
Review: Unlike most people (people I know of) who are my age (13) who read or started reading Cathcer in the Rye , I loved it from the begining. Catcher in the Rye is the story of Holden Caulfield, a New York teenager who was just booted out of his prepatory school. Holden leaves his school and spends several days wandering around New York. As the days go by Holden becomes more obviously agitated with the obvious phoniness he is enveloped in and unable to break out of.Caulfield is the type of character that most people either love or hate with a passion. Salinger is an excellent writer and even if you made an effort to read Catcher in the Ride and didn't like it his other books ( Franny and Zooey, Nine Stories, and Raise High the Roof Beams; and Seymor: an Introduction) are worth a look.

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Summary: I think this book is quite real.
Review: Though many of you think this is dribble-or smut-or un-couth- or what ever, you all have different words. i found that this book is very real-even now. There are very few teenager's and young adults who cannot relate to this novel. Perhaps, you could call them, oh, "uptight stiffs with no sense of humour." Now perhaps I am wrong. However-most people who "wonder" why libraries keep these books, and why kids read them (as one critic put it) those are normally the people who 'ban and burn'. Now, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I think it is a must read and that it touches into the 'human teenager' as I prefer to put it.

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Summary: Everyone needs a friend....
Review: HELLO!! Everyone! I have just got done this book and I enjoyed it cover to cover. If you enjoyed this book you noticed yourself in Holden, and you could to relate to at least one thing he was saying, or thinking. Don't get offended! I'm not saying you are a physco, but who is to say anyone is a "pyhsco". Holden is pretty pathetic in a way because he has no one there for him to cry on someone's shoulder. Everyone needs a friend and love. The only FRIEND and LOVE is through Jesus Christ. There is no greater love than to lay your life down for your friend, and that is exactly what Jesus did for us. Holden looked everywhere for the perfect love, but no one was there. You may think I'm some fanatic but I bet you deep in your heart you know Jesus is real and that just like Holden, we ALL need to fill that void in our heart with GOD's love. That was the only downpoint of this novel, Holden never found love, and I wish Holden could have asked Jesus to come into his heart, so that Holden could have love, joy, happiness, in his heart, and the answere to life itself. Thanks for reading my opinon...I mean fact.

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Summary: What is the big deal about this book!?
Review: I'm sorry but this book is completely overrated! I kept reading hoping it would eventually get better but it never did. It was boring and even though I could vaguely relate to the "teenage angst" aspect, it certainly didn't enlighten me or change my life in any way. I can't believe anyone would make such a big deal about this dull and uninspiring book. I had to force myself to finish it just to say I'd read "the classic" Catcher in the Rye!

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Summary: No wonder its a modern classic
Review: When I first read catcher in the rye I couldn't belive it was written as long ago. I belive Holden Caufeild is perfectly in tune with todays synical generation "x". Holdens veiws of the people he meets and basically the world in which he lives are disturbingly close to the veiws of me and many of my freinds, us also being 16 years old, I belive there is alot teenagers like me can get out of this book even as we aproach the year 2000. No wonder it's a modern day classic.

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Summary: Varying Opinions Shouldn't Be Surprising
Review: I see how some of my fellow teenagers found The Catcher in the Rye to be a boring or frustrating or pointless book. After I got over my initial shock, I realized that while this book was extremely special to me, it could just as easily be seen as trash by someone else. It is a highly subjective piece of literature, unlike, say, The Odyssey, which can be dissected as easily and unpleasantly as a frog. For certain types of people (myself included), books like this and Catch-22 provide characters to identify with. Other people with valid opinions might scoff at Holden and Yossarian and look to Beowulf-type heroes for proper role models. Quite simply, the anti-hero isn't everybody's cup of tea. I don't recommend this book to everyone--just to those that have ever felt alone and misunderstood because of different beliefs or paradigms.

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Summary: A masterpiece, but not for the weak of heart.
Review: I personally believe that "The Catcher in the Rye" is a wonderful book. Even though it was written in the early-middle part of the century, it still is an accurate portrayal of teenage life. It touches on all the taboos, which include sex and drinking. Holden Caulfield may not be the perfect example of a teenager, but he is close. His values are approximately the same as most teenagers, and he shows sympathy for just about everything that is wrong in this world. I can see a bit of Holden in all my friends (I'm a teenager). This book was great, and not just because it was (and still is in some places) banned.

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Summary: Best book ever? HA!
Review: Catcher in the Rye, was to put it simply, horrible. I am a 17 year old high school student, and luckily I was not forced to endure reading this book as many of my classmates were this year. I did however read it several years ago and did not like it one bit. It was so bad I couldn't even finish the book. I skimmed through the last few pages, hoping to find a ray of light, a glimmer of wisdom or some gem of knowledge that I had missed but found none what so ever.Recently I re-read parts of the book to see if I was missing something, but it was to no avail. To put it simply, Holden is a punk. People tell me that maybe I don't identify with the character, can't recognize his struggles or what he is going through. I think part of the reason I didn't like this book is because I can identify with all of those things and can see Holdens' point of view better than he can. All of these adults who say that this is such a great book probably do so because they have forgotten what teen-angst feels like, or never even felt it in the first place and want to pretend they have. I have never met a teenager that has liked this book, and our English Honors class is very well read. The teachers, adults, and librarians will rave on and on about it, but only because they have forgotten a part of themselves in adulthood. That feeling of imortality and hatred towards our parents which they say we all have (but none of us seem to notice). This book didn't teach me anything. For all of its angst, dischours, and depression, it dosen't have a focus, a purpose, or anything to direct it all at. It just blindly throws rage at the world like it's free and will never run out. By the time your at the end you feel like saying "So What?" Maybe that's what they want, but it's not anygood when that's already how you feel. Perhaps because I identify with Holdens' feelings so much I don't identify with him at all and despise him. In the end, Holden leaves so much anger and rage that it all becomes inadequate.! By the way if you liked this book, or didn't, but took the time to read it, something tells me that you will love Joseph Heller's, CATCH-22.