The Catcher in the Rye

Rating:
Summary: Gets in Your Mind
Review: Salinger records teenager Holden Caulfield's thoughts and actions in a first person tone in this book. Salinger deftly employed colloquialism and literary eloquence in expressing Caulfield's inner psychological battles as that of a typical teenager. The book reflects the main character's coming of age struggles in the reflection of the American society. For anyone who has lived through adolescence, this book will conjure up great memories, though not necessary nostaligia. At times, the stubborness of Caulfield vexes the reader. That's precisely when the book achieves its merits. Worth reading, fast page turner too.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book crafted for today's teenager!
Review: I absolutely love this book. It seems almost as if it was written for my mind word for word. Blantant truth oozes from cover to cover, in a twisted harmony that reaches out and pulls you inside.

Rating:
Summary: Feelings Of Adolescence
Review: "The Catcher in the Rye", By J.D. Salinger was a very interesting novel that everyone should have the pleasure of reading. The story tells of a 16 year old adolescent named Holden Claufield. Holden narrates his story, which takes place over a two day time period. The story starts with him in a prep school and ends with him in a mental ward. The story replicates the changes of a teenager and how they can push people away.

Holden retells the story of his journey in New York after being kicked out of prep school. In the two days that he spends there he has many experiences. Most of which he explains as not pleasant.

Holden spends a lot of time telling how he feels about people and other things in society. He often states that people are "phonies" and how much he dislikes them. Holden seems to be lonely throughout the book and is always looking for someone to talk too. He finds it hard because he alienates himself from people. Instead of finding good qualities in people he seeks the bad. To me this represents ones depressed state of mind, in which Holden is stuck in. I have related to this book because like everyone I have been in a depressed state of mind and can some how relate to Holden.

"The Catcher in the Rye", by J.D. Salinger, was a great book that I recommend everyone should read at least once. The book shows the struggles that an adolescence can go through. These struggles are shown through a colorful story that will catch the reader's feelings and attention

Rating:
Summary: Society for some.
Review: The idea that most interested me in reading this novel was the amount of publicity that it has gotten over the years. I thought that the book was interesting. It is about a young male that journeys into New York City after leaving a prep school. The events that unfolded while he was there were interesting. The main character always seemed to be looking for something to do, which kept me reading to see what he was going to do next. Throughout the novel the main character finds out who he is and where he wants to go in life. This would be very good and interesting for someone that is just starting to discover who he/she is. The only major issue with this book that I found to be not if interest was the main characters view on life and society. If you are someone who feel that society is not fair or just, then you may enjoy this book more than I did. Though the events in the novel are interesting and keep you reading, the amount of negativity is not. I guess that the bottom line here is; if you are interested in reading this book out of curiosity then do it. On the other hand if you are interested in reading about the joys and gifts that come in life, with work, then this novel may disappoint you.

Rating:
Summary: Review of The Catcher in the Rye
Review: The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written in the first person, is told through one large flashback, and is about a young boy dealing with himself. The book is written in the first person, so the reader feels and hears exactly what the author is feeling and thinking. The book is one large flash back to help the reader understand the character better. This book captures the boy's adolescence in its worst and rawest.
This book is written in the first person so nothing is left out from the author. When a book is written in the first person the reader gets to see deep inside the main character and get a full picture of his mind. What the author is thinking is being conveyed to the reader in words. These words are maybe even something that the author would never even say aloud, but are there for the reader to accept and analyze. Holden thought of many things that he "should've" or "would've" said, but he didn't. The reader got so see that shy side of him that wasn't expressed to others in the novel. If he did come out and say something there was always a feeling of regret in him that the reader could see and could help them relate better to him. When something is written in the third person it takes away from knowing the individual, and focuses on knowing the subjects. The reader no longer knows the people, they know what is going on around the people. There fore, a book written in the first person lets the reader truly get the advantage of really knowing what is going on in the mind of the individual.
This book is also written in one large flashback. The main character, Holden, is talking to a psychoanalyst. Where he starts off is where he left his most recent school. He views this as a turning point in his life that brings about a whole mess of things to come. Schools are a big part of his life, though he despises them and all that they stand for. The fact that he has been going to boarding schools does not help that. He is at school twenty-four hours everyday and there seems to be no escaping it. That may be why he doesn't feel the need to do well in school, because it is just a place he feel he "has" to be at and not a place to further his life. Though his flashback is only about a couple days, in those days he realizes many things about himself and what his life means to him. He realizes what school means, what his family means, and what he means to himself as an individual who is such a small part of this vast world around him. By him expressing all of this to the psychoanalyst, it is probably also helping him realize even more that he may have been to afraid to admit ti himself at the time it occurred. As this flashback is taking place the reader understands the character more and the character may understand himself more.
The boy in the novel, Holden, has to deal with himself, all by himself. This is able to show him how strong or weak his spirit and will really are. While he is by himself his loneliness builds up into a depression. This depression shows the reader his regrets, his sorrows, and his weakness. This weakness leaves him vulnerable to other characters in the book. He is open for the rudeness and rejection that comes his way. He is inhibited because of his fear of these things also. He does not want to be rejected therefore he won't do something. After that he will have regret for not doing that thing. All of this contributes to his depression and leads to his feeling of discomfort and alienation wherever he is. When Holden is trying to figure out what to do in certain situations, his hesitation leads him into a whole spiral of questions that he lets fall upon himself. The loneliness that he has to deal with leads him to comfort zones. But once he arrives at those places, he realizes they are not what he expected them to be or what they used to be. Holden had to deal with himself and he did as best he could.
This novel really captures the rawness of this boys life. It does that through flashback and being written in the first person. The reader sees exactly what is happening and knows what is behind that. They know what is happening because they can see inside the authors mind while each event is taking place. This book was very enjoyable and very well written. It showed how the main character really worked, and was not fabricated by other opinions, that is hard to find in anything these days.

Rating:
Summary: Catcher In the Rye: Through the eyes of Holden
Review: Every human in this world is different from one another. Being different from someone else is a unique characteristic. The book "Catcher In The Rye," deals with being different and not being yourself. The book is basically a journey through life of the main character, Holden.
Holden always has trouble with applying himself in school. He has been in many private schools and managed to fail out of each. His last school ends up being Pencey, an all boy's school. He fails to apply himself in his classes except for his English class. He ends up being kicked out of school and has to return home to deal with his parents.
Holden never seems to want to be alone. He gets depressed alot when things don't go his way. When he did get to New York, which is where he is from, he had to hide out for a while. He didn't want to be alone, but he couldn't go home. He was unable to go home due to a letter from the school. He wanted to wait until the letter arrived and then return home. He began calling up old girlfriends and friends and staying out until all hours. He even went so far as to buy the company of a prostitute. He ended up feeling sorry for himself and he lied to get her to go away. He always lied about something to save himself, but that would create depression. This depression led to alcoholism and then thoughts of suicide.
Holden ended up going home to visit his sister. Holden ventured home and got inside the house very quietly. He didn't want his parents to know that he was there, just his sister. He had favoritism towards his little sister Phoebe, and she looked up to him. He figured things would be ok once he saw her.
In the end, Holden wants to leave, saying, "he wants to get away from the phony people." It is funny because Holden was phony himself. He never told the truth and he was always pretending to be someone else. He got so fed up with these people that he wanted to kill someone. He mentioned that "he wanted to be in a peaceful place where phony people can't talk." Phoebe decided that she wanted to leave with him. After talking her out of it, he realized that he wasn't going to leave either. He ended up returning home.
To finish this book, you have to realize where exactly Holden is telling the story from. Just by seeing the type of character that he is, you realize that he is crazy. Holden had to wait a semester to go to school, he ended up staying in the psych ward. His character made the story and symbolized his crazy mind and the moods of his character. Catcher in the Rye deals with mental problems and the reality of living with them.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable but Unfulfilling
Review: Although originally published in 1951, this book still seems like it could have been written in today's world. It is about a typical American teenager going through adolescents and experiencing human nature. The main character/narrator, Holden Caulfield, is straightforward in expressing his ideas about everything around him. He is rebellious and doesn't cope with his problems too well. Instead he either runs away from them or hides from them. For example, he leaves Pencey early just because he didn't feel like hanging around the people there or the fact that he wanted to wait until after his parents received the letter about his expulsion before he came home. He finds his life lonely and the more he ponders and contemplates his life he feels more and more depressed.

The way Salinger made the character really sound like an adolescent helped me to relate to Holden. I could completely understand Salinger's style of writing despite his use of slang. Although some reader's may not experience the same idea's that Holden brings up in the story they can certainly relate it to someone else's life.

I was quite disappointed, however, that the book ended without any really big, dramatic twists. The book ended so fast and I wish that Salinger could have carried on with the story. I would be interested to know where Holden ends up going to school next, if he does go back to school, and what he feels about the world now that he's 17 at the time that he tells the story.

I would recommend this book to young adults but I would strongly discourage readers who are impressionable and inclined to imitate the narrator's words and actions. It is something that I would enjoy reading over and over again.

Rating:
Summary: Everyone has to read this book!
Review: This is the best book I've ever read. It contains all aspects of other literature, at least in my opinion. As a freshman in high school, i've read an eccentric collection of books. Catcher in the Rye contains a little bit of all these, from Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange," with the whole rebellious adolescent human nature stuff, Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," also dealing with the human nature, hence the title "heart of darkness." THere's also a hint here and there of "Atlas Shrugged," i believe, which i'm not quite done with yet. I am Holden Caulfield. Everything Salinger wrote about this character i could relate to, either in my life personally, or in someone elses, and THAT is what makes a book. It's the only book i will read over and over and over and STILL catch a little something that i didn't notice previously that makes it even more interesting. THis book is supposedly trying to be banned from schools, but i think it's the best book to read as an adolescent. It's thought provoking, and really changes your perspective on things. ALl in all, It's the best book I've ever read and one that everyone needs to read at some point in their life. An american Classic!!!

Rating:
Summary: The truth
Review: I am so sick of everyone who thinks there are some intelligent critic that knows more about everything than everybody else. No doubt, they will look at this review, notice that I choose not to use any "big" words and deem myself not on their level.

The simple fact is that this book is the 1 book that I can actually read without getting bored. The reason.....it shows the truth behind every "phony" thing in this world. Who cares about all that other critic rhetoric. The beauty in the book is that it tells the straight forward, no BS truth. Read it, enjoy it, read it again.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Novel
Review: Catcher in the Rye is the story of Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy in a very depressed and unhappy state of mind. The story is of his removal from prep school and his return back home to New York City.

The book is set in modern day New York City (actually the 1950s, it is written so well it is unnoticeable). Holden spends most of time telling bits and pieces of what he thinks of people, and why he dislikes things so much. Holden himself experiences a lot in a few days, everything from beating attacked by a pimp to drinking and dancing a bar to making an old girlfriend cry.

Holden goes through the story mostly alone, simply because every time he visits or meets with someone, he either finds fault in them or they find fault in him, and he leaves. Holden's observations seem to show that he gets increasingly depressed as the story goes on. The story captures a period in everyone's life (usually mid or late adolescence) where everyone and everything seems depressing or without joy. The reason that so many people identify with the story is perhaps because of the depression. Depression, a state of mind that most people seem to feel at some point in their life, is universal. As many other reviewers agree, it is in identifying

Holden, as the narrator, states what we feel during that time, almost perfectly. Holden scrutinizes things we normally don't, primarily the way people act toward other people, whilst ignoring the way he acts. His observations range from seeing profanities scribbled on a wall and getting upset to watching a man in a hotel room put on women's clothes.

The overall theme of the book I would say is "discomfort." Holden is rarely comfortable. When he even approaches the chance of being comfortable, something always keeps him from getting there. Along the way, the book also deals with alienation and fakeness, and loneliness and deception. Overall, the book is a reminder to me that everything falls apart.