The Catcher in the Rye

Rating:
Summary: It held me from start to finish
Review: When I first heard this book was on my required reading for my summer going into high school I thought, "oh no, a baseball book". And then, when I bought it at the book store I thought, "no picture on the cover, ugh". Ok, I was proved wrong. Number one the book has nothing to do with baseball, as if you intelligent bookworms didn't know that beofre. And who cares if the cover has no picture. The book is spellbinding, when I read the first sentence about the "David Copperfield crap" I knew it was my kinda book. It's so sad, and we all can relate to it. I bump into a phony person everyday and groan about it, but at least I know Holden did too. I constantly use the term "that killed me" in my vocabulary. The Catcher in the Rye has changed my life. If you haven't read it, get it. It's definitely not a waste of time. Oh yeah, and if you have to read it for school, buy the CliffsNotes and read the chapter summary after you've read the full chapter in the book. This helped me point out symbols my teacher didn't even know about. When I grow up I'm going to give my child when she turns 15, my old, scruffed up, paperback copy of the Catcher in the Rye and show her how amazing literature can be.

Rating:
Summary: The catcher doesn't catch
Review: It was not easy to read this book. Although the beginning was not bad at all because I like this miserable guy but after meanwhile Holden starts boring me. What a stupid "boy"! He doesn't have any interests, the only thing what he can do is smoking. He told us what's happened in a few days over almost 200 pages and actually there is nothing extraordinary to mention except the blame with the prostitute (Sunny) and Maurice.
Not everything was bad otherwise I didn't read this book till the end. Holden 's character is something where some youth people can identify themselves with: his critical attitude against the society "for God's sake, everything drives me crazy!" he has no friends, no interests, feel some loneliness, a big smoker and observed by sex. But we discover in this adolescent a sensitive boy who loves his brothers and especially his little sister. His feeling give him sympathy otherwise this pupil was a big loser; somebody who doesn't matter if he is death or not.

After this alternative guy ran out at Pencey he goes to a hotel because he is afraid of his parents. At the end Holden decided to go back to his sister and his parents but we don't even know the reaction of them and his future is also unknown. There are so many questions unanswered. The book would have got a special dimension if we had known it. But no for God's sake!
The story is a typical American tale. It 's too foolish that a sixteen-aged junior runs away from school and lives in a hotel where he appointed a prostitute. So the language does: there is almost no sentence without damned, bastards, ... but I like it and it reads more fluently. So when you have a lot of time read this boorish book otherwise: Don't waste your time with it!

Rating:
Summary: Wow quite overrated...
Review: I just wanted to mention that I've read this book twice and I fail to see what's so "classic" about it. I mean it isn't a bad book by any means, but come on. There just is nothing extraordinary about it, besides maybe the fact that there's swearing in a book from the 50s/60s. Just another overhyped piece of "modern art".

Rating:
Summary: More Than Meets the Eye
Review: THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is simply the best book ever written. It has layers to it that would be trivialized to try and explain, but for the sake of righting some of the unfair and horribly hollow reviews this novel has received, I'll try. To begin with, the book is about the kind of teenager who is so deep and insightful it just hurts you to read his thoughts. Anyone who has ever truly appreciated something seemingly inconsequential will connect with Holden Caulfield, because he is the epitome of that type of person: someone who hasn't got it all figured out, but wishes to, and who's got a shining soul as straight as a sword. In the book, the reader is left to decide if Holden is actually crazy (or on his way there) or not. Even a few *good* reviews of this book said he had a few screws loose. In my own opinion, that is not the case. Holden wasn't going crazy. He just printed everything he thought. Truth be told, if each of us typed down everything WE thought and got it published for others to scan, they'd think we were crazy too. I don't even think Holden is a true pessimist. Yes, he can be cynical, albeit often, and seems to have a "half empty" kind of few on life and things in general, but that is NOT the case. In actuality, Holden is an idealist; he just covers it up with pessimism to protect himself. Many "cynicists" do. You see, Holden wants everything to be perfect and lovely so badly, it depresses him to see anything fall short of its full potential. I won't go any more into it for fear of giving too much away (I probably already have), but the fact is that Holden's innermost, true self is everything all of us should try to be: a seeker of that which is solely good and right, one who can appreciate every little thing that manages to have no significance yet mean all the world, a champion of everything true, and an empath to the last.

Rating:
Summary: The catcher in the rye
Review: The catcher in the rye J.D.Salinger

I must admit that I don't really like reading books but I liked this book very much. I think the book has a very good subject for people of our age. The book is about a boy that has about our age so it is very easy to enter yourself into the part. The boy in the book, Holden, has a lot of problems with schools. In this story he had to leave school and because he had still a couple of days before he had to go home he just went to a hotel and stayed in the city for a couple of days. What I really liked about the story was the fact that it wasn't to long and it was easy to follow. Sometimes you had to read a thing twice because it was written in spoken language, but that wasn't bad. The book didn't count to many characters so you didn't have to concentrate to hard to be able to follow the story. I really liked the main character, Holden, because he was just a regular boy that didn't really know what to do so he just did the things that he could think of. The book wasn't what I had expected from it, it wasn't just an ordinary book like we always have to read. The book wasn't exciting but it was good to read, I enjoyed it.

Nick Oris
6MWb

Rating:
Summary: Catched in the rye
Review: This book is a nice book. It isn't very special, it's not like you should read it and know it by heart, but I like it. At first I thought: Oh no, another book to read for school. But when I started to read, I liked it more with every page I turned.
The language J.D. Salinger used in 'Catcher in the rye' is kind of simple, it's easy to read. That's one thing I like most about the book: it's simple. You don't really have to think about it, you just let it all enter your mind and that's it. That makes the story so 'light'.
The main character Holden Caufield is a sixteen-year-old boy who had just been kicked out of high school a few days before the Christmas-holiday. So he decides to go to New York with the money his grandmother sent him and enjoy life there. He goes to a hotel, invites a hooker, drinks a lot, meets a lot of people... but it disappoints him. The adult world is just all about money, and that's it. The story is very recognizable and you really know what Holden is talking about. His feelings are clear and sometimes you feel like YOU are Holden yourself. Now, let's not overreact, but sometimes... he thinks like young people do.
The story wasn't too long and not even too short, it was good as it was. During reading, I never felt bored.
I liked it, because it's a great book. So read it !!!

Rating:
Summary: the catcher in the rye
Review: The Catcher in the Rye

I'm not such a good englishreader. It took a lot of my time to read this book. In the beginning it didn't read fluently because there were a lot of words I don't know. But to the ending it went a lot better.
In this book the author wrote, like people speak in our real live. I like that sort of writing but it also has disadvantages because there were also a lot of words that aren't in a dictonnary. I think it's a bit of a strange book. Most of the time it bored me because in fact there wasn't a real story. It only goes about a boy, Holden, people descripe what he does but that's it. He doesn't go through adventures. While I was reading, I've never felt tension from the beginning till the end. I like more story's when you can replace yourself with the person in the book. I never felt, I would like to be that boy, now way, he has a bored life and does nothing sensfull. Sometimes there were funny parts in it, for example : Holden asked everytime when he took a cab where the ducks rest during the winter. I like books with a lot of tension and adventure. I don't like open ends, this book doesn't realy have an open end because there nothing happened. But we also don't know how Holdens life made progress. I like to know the confrontation of Holden with his parents.
The book didn't fascinate me and I was happy when I finished it. I don't want to break off the hole story, I didn't feel bad that we had to read such a story, for a time it's fun to read it once but not to much of those story's.

Rating:
Summary: The catcher in the rye
Review: I think this book is in one way a kind of tragic. Holden Caulfield is a pathetic person who doesn't know what to do with himself or his life. I think J.D.Salinger did a wonderful job at this stage, he wanted Holden to be so and the reader believes he really is. That's something I liked very much about this book. You know exactly what Holden thinks, you know exactly how he feels and what he'll do and what he won't do. That's a reason why I liked reading The catcher in the rye.
But I don't think the story was good. It was a bit boring, it are only 3 days out of Holden Caulfield's life and although Salinger has described it beautifully, it didn't interest me. Holden Caulfield's life is boring, that's why it takes so long to read the book. You do not feel the must to know the end, you just read until the end, not exactly to know the end just to finish the book. But there is no end, the story isn't finished because Holden Caulfield doesn't die or anything, he just moves on.
What bothered me about this book were the choice of words. J.D.Salinger uses a lot the same words and by a lot, I mean really a lot...I didn't count it, but the word phony or helluva began to bother me. Every time I read the word I thought: 'not again this word!' And I do not like it in a book when the author uses a lot the same words.

In the beginning it didn't go fast, the reading I mean. But once you get to know Holden Caulfield better, it goes faster, but still not interesting. I'm sorry, but for me there wasn't really a story in this book.
Of course there were a few things I really liked. For instance the relationship between Holden and his sister Phoebe...Salinger gives you the feeling that these two have a relation where nobody comes between. Nobody can touch them, and I love that idea. I also loved the descriptions of Salinger, the way he describes Pencey or Caulfield's life in New York...I can understand Holden Caulfield, he is just a normal teenager that still has to find his way.

I didn't mind reading this book, but it was too long. The story wouldn't stop and after a while it seemed like an obligation to read just until you finish the book...For me that's terrible because I love reading (I read a lot in Dutch), and I don't like it when I have the feeling it is an obligation to read a book...But besides that, the book wasn't that bad. I don't say it was a good book, I'm saying that the book wasn't bad...Salinger did a good job, but the story wasn't that interesting.

(Elien Plompen)

Rating:
Summary: The catcher in the Rye, jonas' opinion
Review: Jonas' opinion of "The Catcher in the Rye", by Jerome David Salinger.
I find it a very good novel because it learns the reader about American schools and the reader is exposed to the American tradition. The main character, Holden Caulfield, is a very good frog because he can mislead everybody he wants to (the three women around thirty in the hotel at New York, for instance). Holden is very independent of people and he can take care of himself very well. I admire him because he has the guts to kid with Stradlater (I would never have challenged that tough guy). This book has a few tiny little bad points: it has to many chapters, to many characters and it's typed so small that's even difficult to read if your eyes are all right. There's more but this you will hear in class.

My greetings to you, Mr. Geerinckx,

Your pupil of 6MWb,

J.Duyck

Rating:
Summary: Opinion Elien Plompen
Review: I think this book is in one way a kind of tragic. Holden Caulfield is a pathetic person who doesn’t know what to do with himself. I think J.D.Salinger did a wonderful job at this stage, he wanted Holden to be pathetic and the reader believes he is. That’s something I liked very much about this book. You know exactly what Holden thinks, you know exactly how he feels and what he’ll do and what he won’t do. That’s a reason why I liked reading The catcher in the rye.
I don’t think the story was good. It was a bit boring, it are 4 days out of Holden Caulfield’s life and although Salinger has described it beautifully, it didn’t interest me. Holden Caulfield’s life is boring, that’s why it takes so long to read the book?. You do not feel the must to know the end, you just read until the end, not exactly to know the end. Because there is no end, the story isn’t finished because Holden Caulfield doesn’t die or anything, he just moves on.
What bothered me about this book were the choice of words. J.D.Salinger uses a lot the same words and by a lot, I mean a lot…I didn’t count it, but the word phony or helluva really began to bother me. Every time I read the word I thought: ‘not again this word!’ And I do not like it in a book when the author uses a lot the same words.

In the beginning it didn’t go fast, the reading I mean. But once you get to know Holden Caulfield better, it goes faster, but still not interesting. I’m sorry, but for me there wasn’t really a story in this book.
Of course there were a few things I really liked. For instance the relationship between Holden and his sister Phoebe…Salinger gives you the feeling that these two have a relation where nobody comes between. Nobody can touch them, and I love that idea. I also loved the descriptions of Salinger, the way he describes Pencey or Caulfield’s life in New York…I can understand Holden Caulfield, he is just a normal teenager that still has to find his way.

I didn’t mind reading this book, but it was too long. The story wouldn’t stop and after a while it seemed like an obligation to read just until you’d finish the book…For me that’s terrible because I love reading (I read a lot in Dutch), and I don’t like it when I have the feeling like it is an obligation to finish a book…But besides that, the book wasn’t bad. I don’t say it was a good book, I’m saying that the book wasn’t bad…Salinger did a good job, but the story wasn’t that interesting. ...