Rating: 
Summary: A classic
Review: I can't see how people can rave about this being pointless. It's sad that so many people are so shallow. I guess these people can't contemplate a novel any deeper then Harry Potter. The book is about real life, real emotion. Its a classic story of the rejection and fear we ALL feel as teenagers. Open your minds. The reason the author wishes to be alone, is because he sees how people really are. For example, those who can't see the meaning of this classic novel.....
Rating:
Summary: finally pleased
Review: since im only 15, and i probably sound like an idiot but...i really do like this book. since in high school they make you reader all the "great classics" and ruin the entire experience for you, i decided to read it before they held a knife to my neck and made me. i've read almost all the books that people say are amazing and i was left very unimpressed. catcher inthe rye i liked because i felt i was actually talking to holden, i laughed, and i felt like i could relate to it. the fact that i laughed really amazed me since i usually never laugh while i read, but CITR did that to me. its a wonderful book, and i'd read it again and again for the rest of my life if i had the time.
Rating:
Summary: EUGENIO'S VIEW
Review: This is the first time in my life I have read this book. It is pretty amazing and interesting. It is a book in which I can relate to it, as well as thousands of other people in one way or the other if you read the book. It is about Holden Caulfield, a sixteen year old, who feels insecure and is different from others through his character and personality, so he has a difficult time fitting with others. Readers can watch and feel how he thinks mentally, and shows how difficult Holden's character can be. If you think this was the worst book you have ever read, you did not get the real meaning of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: unreadable and phony
Review: Forget the hype and the idiocy. It's a [false] book and the author's constant use of "and all" to keep reminding us that the main character is a teen begins to grate from the very first page. This is a book that I have attempted to read all the way through for the past 25 years and could never, ever get past the third page. I mean it was sheer agony. This guy Salinger is so overrated it's laughable, just like Dostoevsky and his Crime and Punishment. And as far as Salinger not wanting to be bothered goes--fine. Leave the man alone. I mean who cares what he does or how he lives his life? I never could be interested in this guy who has written a book I could never bring myself to finish anyway. What is the big deal? People (read gullible types) don't seem to get that this is nothing more than his publisher's ploy to keep book buyers buying the...Catcher... People (some people) wonder why Salinger hasn't written/published anything in forty years. Well, it's simple: he can't write and knows the stuff he has published isn't very good at all and certainly not worthy of the praise heaped on him...
Rating:
Summary: I Am Holden
Review: I've read this book several times in my life. It's a book that I can relate to in one way or the other each time I read it. It's about a boy who doesn't feel like he fits in with the rest of society. Readers can watch his mental developement (and breakdown), and it goes to show how complex of a character Holden can be. This is the least Phony book I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: THE ORIGINAL TEEN COMEDY
Review: The cult American coming-of-age novel every teenager should read - and every adult should re-read or discover for the first time with a shamelessly young-again sense of nostalgia. Written in a chatty, slangy style, the novel's teenage narrator Holden Caulfield makes an immediate connection with the reader as he recounts his life story, confiding in us his most intimate thoughts and feelings and gaining our trust and sympathy with his honesty.
The book was banned when it was first published in the fifties and remained controversial for a decade afterwards. At the time it was deemed too rebellious for teens to read ... the reason why it is still fresh and relevant today, and why the sentiments at the heart of this eternal teen angst story will never date and always be read by each new generation of teenagers growing up.
Rating:
Summary: holier than thou
Review: This is book is just as relevant today as it was the day it was published. First and foremost it is a novel about purity and the painful loss of innocence. This book is required reading for most high school juniors in the US, which is a mistake, if anything this book should be read by juniors in college for its full meaning to be grasped. Holden represents everything that people with intelligence in America experience. It is foolish to accept that angst ends with adolescence. Angst is immortal, it's just given different names as we all grow older. Holden represents the infatuation with childhood, purity and a certain lack of responsiblity that we all wish we could have once again. This book is not about the general human condition. It is the modern american intellectual human condition. It is about the freezing of youth, it is about recalling your lost happiness. Temples might be holy in the bible but to me, the american museum of natural history on 81st street, where the eskimos are still in their canoes 50 years later will always be the holiest place of all.
Rating: 
Summary: Perplexed Adolescence
Review: I found The Catcher in the Rye to be an adequately decent book in which I found myself captivated and intrigued. Notwithstanding, I feel that the novel was overrated and came no where near my high expectations. This is not to say that the book was not enjoyable, for it certainly enraptured my attention, but I feel that a person's time could be better spent. You are captured into the life of the severely disturbed adolescent boy, Holden Caulfield. Time seems to last forever in Holden's depressing world consumed by phonieness. Holden could never seem to find anything that pleases him, and was once again flunking out of school. He was not an asinine boy, however, effort was not something he often practiced. Unless Holden was amazingly stimulated by a topic, which was hardly the case, Holden would exemplify no effort, for he saw no point. He begins these five perpetual days with a great deal of cash which is quickly spent at nearby bars and clubs where he hopes to encounter a friend. However, when he is actually invited to join someone he declines for the mood is never befitting. Numerous dates and calls are made to many of his old acquaintances hoping to restore past relationships. At first, he finds him self in love, but ends hating them for as always they're just "phonies" and counterfeit. Holden experiences numerous issues and doubts that are greatly common among adolescents today. Almost every person of every personality feels a relation to Holden's views of day to day life and the world surrounding him. In my opinion, however, Holden's character appeared somewhat obnoxious, and it is still an enigma to me how this book was ever considered a "classic." Nonetheless, this book should not be viewed in a negative light; it is a commendable piece of literature that I would comfortably recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing Left to Say Except...
Review: There is simply nothing left to add for those who already KNOW this is one of the great classic novels in American literature, except the following. There are many writers who are writing profound treatments of various aspects of American culture. Yet the literary poo-baahs, such as the high and mighty editors at the New York Times Book Review and the New Yorker CHOOSE who they focus attention on. And that's part of what makes this book so timeless in its commentary on society. The phoniness Holden encounters is timeless. It pervades all aspects of our culture even in 2002. As an author of nonfiction who has enjoyed a taste of acclaim, I know from where I speak. Recognition involves talent and politics, with particular emphasis on the latter. Yet, we're supposed to act like this isn't true, and if you simply work hard you'll get your just reward. That's b.s., the same way Holden dramatizes it was b.s. in the New York City existing in the early 1950s. I keep rereading this book, as well as Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man," a timeless look at racial realities that remain true in 2002, because of the manner in which they reveal the stubborn aspects of human nature that refuse to be scrubbed away. For those who just don't get why this book is simple brilliance, too bad. It is one of the Great American Novels, written in the voice of a teen, yet with wisdom people of all ages can appreciate. As a result, Sallinger had to go into hiding after it hit big, because everyone sought him out. He's now in his 80s. I hope he has lived a happy life.
Rating: 
Summary: Eral's review
Review: I thought the book was vey interesting. I really thought that the auther did a very good job of telling in great detales about every person he sees, but at the some time at some point he sounded very gay when he would keep talking about how good some of the guys looked in the book and he just kept going and going about it for a page or two. But all together the book was very good because the way he kept the book in teresting with putting different emotions through out the book, he would talk in a way that he would be sad and then he would put in the mad parts in there even sad parts and i really loves the way he ended the book that was probably the greatest ending with out really ending the book.
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