The Catcher in the Rye

Rating:
Summary: This book killed me, It really did!
Review: I read this book last year when I was 16 years old and have since read it several times. Whenever I am bored I pick it up, open to any page and just read. The people who cant understand this book or dislike it are the type of people Holden is criticizing in the story. There is so much energy and emotion and life in this story that it is just incredible. When I first finished reading it I just sat there squeezing the book, it created such intense feelings inside of me. Every page Holden said something that I relate to 100%. He is by far the best character ever created in a story. I feel like Salinger was personally writing about me. Holden is struggling with growing up into a world filled with phonies. Every page Salinger says something that makes me stop and think. For instance, "I dont care if its a sad bood-bye or a bad good-bye, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse" or "King on the back row...".
This book changed my life. If I could only have one material possesion for the rest of my life it would be The Catcher in the Rye. You have to read this book, it is so amazing.
-----Sean Manning

Rating:
Summary: Don't hate this book b/c you hate Holden
Review: Most people hate this book either because they think Holden is a whining spoiled brat or because they don't like the writing style. Well then, that's their preference... Allowing these things to annoy then shows they do not truly appreciate the profound meaning of the story. They are acting exactly like Holden: a shallow boy. The writing style is to provide realism; it is meant to get the reader depressed, to get the reader to see through Holden's eyes. But Salinger isn't restricted to writing in a depressed glum tone; he shows his literary ability with many of the other various believable characters, such as Phoebe. This book exemplifies the iceberg idea: you can only see the small peak of an iceberg but underneath the water is a mountain. With this book the words may seem like useless and boring rantings but there is an enormous amount of meaning lying beneath the words. If you are looking for a "fun" entertaining light book don't read this; this book is meant to be read not for its suspenseful plot (it has none) but it's universally profound meaning. This is a fantastic story about a boy desperately struggling to maturity, a boy learning about life. I encourage everyone to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: My Absolute Favorite Book of All Time!
Review: To make a long story short: this is a great book, one of the best ever written. I read this book last year in 8th grade and it kept me interested until the very last page. The author, J.D. Salinger really does a great job creating sometimes sad and dramatic moments while narrating the story in a very informal way, like he's your friend. This helps the reader to see everything through Holden's (the main character) eyes even more. You become immersed in the story.

Although Holden doesn't appear to be very smart, I think he is a genius. If you take a closer look at what he says you can really get a lot out of this book. I promise you won't want to put this book down.

Rating:
Summary: Holden Caulfield as an American saint
Review: The theme of this novel is the confession of a truly innocent, unselfish young person who believes he is guilty of failure in his responsibility to people. Holden Caulfield has not been able to continue for any length of time in a number of prestigious schools his parents have sent him to, because he cannot accept
their standard of striving for material success. And yet nobody seems to sympathize with his spiritual goals, particularly his ideal of subordinating everything to love, by the example of Jesus. He eventually finds refuge from his extreme crisis of despair when he rejoins his baby sister Phoebe, an "ordinary" little child with the genius of a spiritual sage who makes Holden resume his life.

Rating:
Summary: Worth A Second Read
Review: I first read The Catcher in the Rye at the start of my sophomore year of high school. I had no idea what it was, but I dived into it regardless. I read the famous first paragraph and was in complete disbelief. I knew I had to read the whole thing.

The book was a pretty easy read, in the sense that you could read 50 pages and not even realize it. You are in Holden's mind, reading his thoughts, living his life. I will admit, as I finished I was slightly disappointed. I thought, it was nice to read, but it went nowhere. A year later, I was assigned the book as a summer reading project, so I read it again, just to refresh myself. Even the second time through it kept my attention. But when I finished, I was amazed. I just kinda got it the second time around, as a whole. So, this book is great, yada yada, everyone's pretty much explained how it works and exactly why it's great, but I just recommend if you don't really care for it the first time (especially if you are a younger person), wait a while and read it again. It can be one year or twenty, but the second time you will have have a little more knowledge about life and people to really understand The Catcher in the Rye in all it's greatness.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre at best...
Review: Despite widespread fame and popularity, I believe that this novel is quite insignificant and deserves little of the esteem it has thus far been accredited. Holden Caulfield's story is not some inspiring, amazing book, but a simple story about a misguided adolescent. There's nothing more; indeed, it is amazing to know that many consider this a "Great American Novel." It surely does not deserve such a title, and I must oppose strongly those who inflate the novel's importance to literature.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting novel
Review: I had never heard a bad thing about "the Catcher and the Rye," so I decided to read it. I don't see how so many people can like it and recommend this novel. The story isn't too horrible, and even the plot isn't too terrible. But the word selection, sentence structure and syntax is the worst I have read. Wow, I never knew how often someone could repeat the same phrases and have a novel published. If I wrote an essay where I said this 'kills' me (he meant amused me) every paragraph, I know my English teacher would fail me. If half the time I started to describe something, I said, "But I don't feel like telling you about that" or "But I am not in the mood," my paper would flunk. I never knew how often the word "phony" could be used.

I really tried to stay openminded about this book, but by the end of the novel I was no longer enjoying his story because of the writing style. The story in itself is not that bad; I have read worse. This boy Holden has just flunked out of his third prep school, and we join him over the next two or three days of his life. Holden seems to think many people are phony, and I think that the phoniness of so many people must be the point of this novel. I agree that a lot of people do things because it is what is expected of them, but does that make them phony. I think that Holden used other people's phoniness as an excuse not to apply himself, because he was not phony like others.

Overall, I gave the novel two stars because of its grammer, the plot wasn't too bad.

Rating:
Summary: curiously unique
Review: This book was given to me as a gift, and a well-chosen one too. It is one of those rare books that are virtually in orbit around a character instead of around a plot. I was half-way through the book and about three people asked me, "Is it good? What is it about?". To all three I had to reply, "I really don't know." Of course they all argued that I had to know what it was about, I was nearly done. I could have told him what the character THOUGHT about, what type of a person the character was, but I would never really be able to get around to answering their QUEstion. J.D. Salinger, though, is amazing in the fact that he can still make it a very interesting book despite that. Everybody should read it.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful...
Review: This book has been the subject of much criticism historically. There is no reason for this. The Catcher is such a good book, with such a clear message. All it is saying is that it is hard on a person who sees the wold for what it is. the world has changed in the last 50 years since this book was written. The things that upset Houlden Coulfield in the book are the very things that we as a society have come to accept. I for one believe that this is not a path that we should be proud of. Maybe if this book had not been banned and scorned so badly, people would have paid heed to its message and we would all have a better world. i for one am glad that out there somewhere, there is a man who protects us all by being the catcher in the rye...

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This is a great book on the story of a boy. I would recomend this book to anyone.