The Catcher in the Rye

Rating:
Summary: The best book ever
Review: I first read this book when I was in eighth grade. My boyfriend had recommended it to me. I asked my parents to get me a copy, and they seemed impressed, telling me how it was such a great book. I started reading it and I loved it instantly.
I took it to school as I continued reading. My English teacher noticed this. He walked up to me and said, "The Catcher in the Rye? Excellent book. Excellent." Next period, my science teacher talked to me about how she loved it too. After all of this, I finally was able to finish reading it within one day. I'm usually a slow reader unless I really love the book, and I did.
The next day, my English teacher and his friend, another English teacher, talked to me about the book. The other English teacher began telling me how he first read it when he was 18 and that it was the best book in the world. He told me he really wished he could teach it in school, but the kids were just too immature for that.
I must agree - this book is not for kids. I see some people think this is just a plotless book filled with cussing. That is not true. This book is quite beautiful, actually.. it teaches you about life, growing up, relationships, change, and mostly, the transition from childhood to adulthood. Salinger does a great job giving Holden the personality of a teenager, one that we all can relate to, somehow. This book isn't like others.. I mean, whose mind is on the same subject all the time? If you ask me, that's rather phony. Holden tells it like it is and has rather amusing thoughts. He's also a loveable, admirable character in many ways, such as how no means no to him and how he wants to save children. Just read it. It will change the way you see everything.

Rating:
Summary: Great.
Review: Catcher in the Rye--a overall just great book..one that I can identify with since I am in high school right now. I usually do not read unless assigned by school but someone recommended it and I couldnt put it down. He was on a search to find himself, just as I am. :) read it!!

Rating:
Summary: What can I say? A classic
Review: Fist time I read Salinger (I'm from latin america, so it is not a "classic" there) and I found it amazing! I enjoyed it from beginning to end..

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book all the way around
Review: I read this book in high school in a day and a half. This book keeps the reader interested in the mind of our main character, Holden. As you go through the story, one can not help but to feel what Holden is going through. This book is very well written. Some of the subject matter may not be the best for little kids (although I can't think any kid who would read it), but anybody about thirteen or over will be able to appreciate it. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Still packs a literary punch...
Review: After reading Alan Arlt's new novel, THE CARPET FROGS: MUSIC AFTER TOMORROW, (a modern day, rock music Catcher in the Rye) i went into my shelves and pulled out my old copy of Catcher. I still had notes I had written in it when I was in high school almost 20 years ago. The book became my journal as my own thoughts were written on the side pages of the book. This book remains influential because it is a timeless story for the confused, disgruntled, and frustrated youth. Holden Caulfield is a literary icon, the best friend any 16-year-old could have.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Literature
Review: I recently made a vow to reread some books I had skimmed getting through my high school English classes. I knew I had to read Catcher in the Rye, what a great work that was well worth the time it took to finish the book.

This book read like a building top of a roller coaster, you never knew what was going to come after the top of the coaster, then you plunged down and twisted around inside Holden's brain and all around his journey towards New York City and his frivilous spending and wild times and adventures.

I relate a lot to Holden as I am someone who often has learned to hard way in life. Holden seems to refuse to do things the way he is supposed to, and I love the character for that.

You really should not go through life and not read this book.

Rating:
Summary: An exceptional book that strikes the empathatic heart of all
Review: Salinger's Catcher in the Rye is without a doubt one of the finest modern classics of the 20th century. Anyone, and I mean anyone, male or female, or whatever ethnic background, can empathize (though not necessarily sympathize) with Holden's struggles of late adolescence: identity, the shapeless future, sexuality, all set against a backdrop of the spinning confusion that is the teenage experience. The only qualm I have about this book, albeit a small one, is that some of the language and time-specific instances that Salinger uses (plays, movies, locations) date an otherwise timeless piece. Some of the dialogue (esp. the ones with his sister) are pure brilliance. It is a real shame that this book is still banned by many high schools across the United States, for its alleged "bad influences". Yet, if this book was taught to more angry, outcast teens, it would do much more to heal... than to harm. Just my two cents...

Rating:
Summary: If you only read one book...
Review: Reading this book was almost a religious experience for me - I enjoyed it that much. If you don't know the plot of the story already, its basically the story of a High School student (Holden Caulfield) who hangs out around New York for a while after he's flunked out of yet another high school. Before he goes home, he wants to make sure his mother gets the letter and has time to read it over before he gets home so she won't explode on him. However, the true beauty of the story lies in Holden's commentary throughout the book, not in the story itself.

Holden is very cynical and skeptical; more so than your average teenage high school student. Nearly everything he sees he immediately dismisses as "phony" and begins to go into great detail about how superficial or stupid it is. And the thing is, Holden is always right. Though some people think he is nothing more than an obnoxious misanthrope, Holden holds a lot of insight into the world we live in. Anyone who does not give this book four or five stars obviously does not understand the meaning behind the book.

While the book is often extremely funny and witty, it is not a book that is meant to be read by junior high students who picked it out for a book report because it looks shorter than the other books. Nor is it meant to be read by conservative adults who think that a book like this is nothing short of blasphemy. This is a book for anyone who has ever felt alone in life, for anyone disenchanted with the world we live in, and for anyone who simply wants to see the world thrue a new and beautifuyl set of eyes.

Rating:
Summary: not a great book
Review: I am 12 years old and i started to read this book and found it not to be very good. It has about ten curse words on every page and i don't think it should. It also has a bunch of other stuff that younger kids should not read. Over all i found this a bad book and pretty boring too.

Rating:
Summary: Best Piece of Literature
Review: I first read this book in 9th Grade English (to be fair, I still AM in 9th grade English). All i do is keep reading it over and over and over again waiting until my birthday when I'll get the rest of the J.D. Sailinger books. Including of course the memoirs about him by Margret Sailinger. Until then I relate almost every to something from Catcher in the Rye to my everyday life. Like, that annoying book who sits next to me in Math to Holden's classmate at Pencey Prep, Ackley. All in the is by far the best piece of literature anyone over the age of 12 could read. I Loved it! Read it!