The Catcher in the Rye

Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly sad...
Review: This was one of those books that they made you read in junior high. I read it back then, wrote the paper that was required of me and moved on. Now...12 years later, I decided to re-visit the classics and see if I could get something out of them this time around. Of course, "Catcher.." was on my list and I'm glad that it was. This book really deserves two or three readings (at least) in order to really understand where Holden is coming from. Holden is so far ahead of his time. He still is. He will always be ahead of his time. He is a young man struggling to comprehend a world that makes no sense and one that offers him nothing in the way of challenges. I have not yet hit the big 30, but I constantly find myself looking for something to question. Enlighten me. That's what this book has done. It's a shame that teachers have to force a child to read a book such as this. Wouldn't it be nice if teachers could just put the suggestions out there and let their students decide for themselves. Wouldn't students get a lot more out of their reading if they did?

Rating:
Summary: True to real life
Review: I am a junior in high school, and I have just finished reading this book on which I have to write a paper. I decided to see what other people thought to get a jump start on my thoughts. And what I found was that from all the people that posted I tended to agree in some way with most of them. I agree that it is a book of teen angst and grief, but one important part is that Holden's own phoniness. Another reviewer gave this book a 1 because he believed that Holden's phoniness was bad. But I believe that it is true to many aspects of the teenage spirit. Holden hated "phonies" but more than once was a "phony" himself. And I often see this own fact in myself and others. Even before I read this book I hated people who protect others from the truth and were phony, yet I protected people from the truth and was a phony as well. "Catcher" also reinforced my idea that private schools are bad. Where everyone is "phony" in private schools to the same degree, it is different in public schools. Each person has their own degrees of phoniness; some people are "super-phonies," while others could be called "phony minimalists." Wiht all these levels of "phoniness" Holden possibly could have found his niche. Please send any comments to :[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Taught me not to be so up tight.
Review: I read this in my Jr Year in 1995. I am a Dyslexic and LD student. Reading has and dose come hard for me. I wolden't then or now speak the way that J.D. wrote in this book, but because as a young person I hear the language all the time, it really didn't affect me. (Plus young people today say wors) I read it because it was required and I also choose it because of its controvery. I wanted to know what my parents read when they were in school and what all the comotion was about. It really is a great book. And my opion is that if someone dosen't want there kid to read it or teachers don't want to teacher it in their class room, then that individual has a very large problem they need to sort out within them self. Young people today (as did the young people of the time the book was first releasd) have lots of things they deal with and J.D. brings these issuse out in away that gets people to understand that its ok to have problems and it's ok to be a little "flawed". I was sorting out books to give away, and I decided to keep this book because I will remember all the heated conversations I had in class and with my peers. This book really got me to reason and taught me that I was not the only one with an opion.

Rating:
Summary: Turned Haters into Avid Readers
Review: Although I grew up in a household that held J.D. Salinger in the highest regard, I was not sure how others viewed him. Through the years, I heard more and more people sing his praises. That is why, when I had my first opportunity to teach literature in an introductory college Lit. class, I chose _The Catcher in the Rye_ to represent novels.

This novel brought together a class of 23 students who had, for the most part, resisted reading anything longer than 5 pages. Many came in the first day after it was assigned already finished with the work. The students were eager to discuss and investigate the work; many expressed that this was by far the best work they had ever read. When given a chance, more than 75% of the class chose to focus on Salinger for their term papers.

Even if the word of one 25 year old book-loving English teacher bears no weight, the word of 23 students should. Not one student disliked the book--they may have disliked Holden, but they thoroughly enjoyed reading about him.

As for censorship, these students probably pegged it right. They stated that those who hate the book and call for it to be banned do so because they are the phonies of which Holden speaks. I can't know if they are right, but they gave me something to think about!

_Catcher_ spans the ages of time and readers. It truly is a book worth teaching.

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for all young teenagers.
Review: This book should not only be read but studied by all students during their first or second years of high school. I did both and have been rereading it ever since.

Rating:
Summary: Wow! What a reread!
Review: I first read The Catcher in the Rye about 15 or more years ago. I'm not sure I enjoyed it, but certain pieces of it stuck with me throughout the years. I reread it yesterday, and wondered (until looking at some of the online reviews by teenagers)why they assign this book to youngsters. While certain elements make an impact, the essence of the book is almost wasted on the young, and, if they don't like it, they won't return to it. In any case, I was amazed by this book. The consistency of Holden's voice, the contemporariness of it (except for the $4000 jaguar and a few other things, it could have been written now), the angst of a depressed adolescent. Holden's language shows his depression and, because of it, his skewed thinking. It is clear that the loss of his younger brother years before had a tremendous impact on him, and continues to affect his relationships. He is not the most likeable of characters, and I don't think he would be even if he were no longer depressed, but he captures the confusion and feelings of an adolescent beautifully. I found myself thinking about many aspects of this book upon awakening this morning, among them, is this autobiographical? Melissa Lenihan

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Summary: My Review on Catcher............
Review: I read this book some months ago but I really did not form any strong opinion of it. My first thought was that I thought the character Caulfield unrealistic. I could never imagine a 13 year old boy with these thoughts and fears. Perhaps that is beacause I was raised in a very protected environment, partly in California and Oslo,Norway(Europe). Now that I am 20 and it has been 6 years sisce I moved back from Calif. I realize that American kids have it totaly diferent than the protected environment of my little Scandinavian country. My point is that what Caulfield goes through is not only common for teenagers but also people in there 20's, all over the world. Everyone meets a wall one or two times.

Rating:
Summary: Grow Up Holden!
Review: I read this book for the first time when I was 15 years old. I thought that in Holden I had found my alter ego, my true self. I absolutely identified with Holden.

I'm not 15 any more, in fact, I have three sons who are much closer to 15 than I will ever be again. I read Catcher again this summer, and I have only one thing to say. Please, please, please God, don't let my boys grow up to be as sef-absorbed and immature as Holden

Rating:
Summary: Alone in sharing book's merits
Review: I first read "Catcher" in 1984 since it was required reading for my high school English Comp class. The day we submitted our essays on this book, our teacher asked if we enjoyed the book. Oddly enough, I was the only one to raise my hand. Out of a class of 35 students, I was alone in my appreciation of this book! How could this be? I was still in shock when my teacher, Mr. Ellis, asked why I liked the book. I shyly responded, "I don't know, just did." One thing I would change, if given the opportunity to go back in time, would be to properly respond to his inquiry. I regret not having the nerve to share my appreciation and rail against them for missing the point of the story: a teenager's menatal emotional collapse as he trys to come to grips with his purpose in life. Unfortunately, I come from a generation that grew up with John Hughes movies...
Over the years I have read "Catcher" many more times and still enjoy it as much as I did back then. Thank you Mr. Ellis.

Rating:
Summary: Life exposed by Salinger in masterpiece!!!
Review: Hi, first you should know I only gave this book a 9 instead of a ten in the vain hope you would notice this review among the dozens of 10s which will surround it. Secondly, I am a 15 year old male from a suburb of Seattle and I read this book today for the second time. I read it first a year ago; immediatley it became my favourite book and Salinger my favourite author. I now read it again for an english assighnment and was once again awed by it's irrepressable truth. I love this story not because I admire Holden ( I don't, even though I see traces of him within myself), but because I admire J.D. Salinger's awesome ability to reach deeply into the inners of humanity and American civalisation and return having produce a lump sum of what is to be found by an underachieving 16 year with a pocket full of cash and a shattered sence of idealism, walking lonely the streets of New York. To deny Holden's city is to deny the land we claim home. To deny his observations is to deny ourselves.