The Catcher in the Rye

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Book Ever Written
Review: I, unlike a whole shlew of people, never had to read this as a class assignment. I don't know whether it would have changed my life back then, the way it has today. That I can never be certain of, but what I can be certain of, is that this book is glorious.

J.D Salinger has written an account of every human beings fears, desires and needs. He not only exemplifies the true meaning of what being seventeen years old is about, but relishes in it.

I know that I am not the first person to say this book has changed them in a great way, but I will never forget this book for taking me through one of the most turbulant times in my life. It's funny really, because I never pictured a book 'saving me' from of all things myself.

There are too many layers to talk about in this book. Too many stories, too many fears and sub-plots.

But what I can tell you is that 'The Catcher In The Rye' is a marvelous book that will, if not change your life, at least enrichen it more...

Five Out Of Five....Timeless

Rating:
Summary: Catcher and The Rye Review
Review: I haven't read Dreamland, however I think that it shuld be taught with The Catcher and The Rye. The reason is because I think it has some of the same issues that teenagers deal with in every day life. Dreamland deals with abusiveness and I think young couples can learn from this book. Catcher in The Rye deals with teenagers finding their way through life.

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Summary: Catcher in the Rye and Countrfeit Son Review
Review: Since I have read Catcher in the Rye, I believe that the book should be read by all young readers. This book deals with every day problems that young men go through in their everyday lives. Finally there is a book with a fictional character that young men can relate to; I understood most of Holden's problem through out the book. I haven't read Counterfeit son, however I think all young adults should also read this book today, This book deals with kid napping. There is a lot of kid napping cases now more than ever. Kid napping has risen tremendously around the world. Many young adults do not know how serious this issue is. After reading the reviews for Counterfeit son, I finally understand that issue is more serious than I thought. Mature young adults should read both books because both of them relate to the problems we face in society today.

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Summary: Structure and Diction in THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
Review: Salinger's classic use of structure and diction throughout the novel help to achieve his purpose of showing the moral problems and developments of Holden Claufield. From the very first few sentences, it is clear that Holden is telling us this story as he remembers it. He comments that he got into some "madman stuff around Christmas" and "had to come out here for a while to take it easy"(1). Thus the reader can conclude that Holden has taken a journey of some sort from the beginning of his problems to the state in which he currently lives. The structure of the novel also supports this hypothesis. It all starts the day he leaves Pencey Prep. From there on it is a journey through the black forests of moral confusion. Moreover, the reader can learn a lot from the diction that Salinger employs to show the developments in Holden. As the reader picks up the book and gets through the first page, it is glaringly obvious that Holden is not the traditional narrator. He presents himself to be immature, and the use of slang becomes a vital part of the book. This immaturity presented in the diction can best be observed in the analysis of Holden's sexual confusion toward girls. He comments that "if you don't like a girl, you shouldn't horse around with her at all, and if you do like her, then you're supposed to like her face, and if you like her face, you ought to be careful about doing crumby stuff to it..."(62). This mental train of thought, resembling that of a child's, shows that he has a sense of morality that is being challenged, which serves to teach lessons to make him more mature in the future. It is also important to note that what he is battling is the fact that he is not like the average Pencey Prep boy who only lives "to give her the time." He thinks that this is a weakness in him as he realizes through the episodes with the pimp that the whole world is just as corrupt. Overall, through the use of structure and diction, Salinger gets to the center of Holden's confusion about morality, while crafting a great work. Many claim that this great novel is for anyone who is at all confused in life about morality or just having a tough time.

Rating:
Summary: "Catcher" VS. A Modern Young Adult Novel
Review: I haven't read The Body of Christopher Creed, however I think that it should be used in conunction with The Catcher In The Rye in the education of young adults. "Catcher" will remain a timless classic for quite some time, but it has moments where it tends to loose a readers interests. Holden's use of langauge in the story might be slightly offensive to some while to others it may be nothing out of the ordinary. Some of the terms he uses are quite out dated and often hard for a modern young adult to comprhend in nature. "Catcher" poses thoughts and ideas that many young adults can often relate to and comprehend on a deeper level than some of the modern novels that deal with issues not all of us have faced. This, in turn, gives us a strong reason to continue moving forward in our reading selections while still holding on strong to the timeless classics such as The Cathcer In The Rye.

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Summary: Holden's Reality Filled With Extremes
Review: J.D. Salinger, through Holden Caufield's use of extremes with death and temperature, displays his distaste of reality. Death is an extreme that is used quite often throughout the novel. The book begins with Holden talking about why he is not at the big football game, and how the students were "supposed to commit suicide "if they lost (2). This clearly shows the distinction between Holden and everyone else in reality. He takes the normalcy of attending the football game and places himself at the other end of the spectrum, and then aggrandizes it by saying how the mere loss of a football game could supposedly result in a mass forfeiture of life. Suicide arises as an extreme measure that occurs in reality over sometimes-small things like a loss in a football game. Holden mocks this occurrence within reality. When Holden meets the three girls in the bar, his attitude labels them as the norm of girls in New York. Holden relates how the girls did not speak and then he talks about how they "nearly committed suicide," when they saw an actor (74). From the beginning Holden displays how he abhors the movies. This shows the reality of how the three girls are affected by society to the point that they would go to the extreme of committing suicide to see a mere person, an actor. Holden ends up hating the girls and this parallels with his distaste towards reality. Holden also belittles a couple who were "feeling each other" as the male spoke about a kid committing suicide. This clearly shows how disturbed people in reality become and how Holden hates the phoniness of them. To all these stories and observations, Holden replies with "It killed me (119)." This remark soars in every other page at least a couple of times. In a way, it does kill Holden, for his view of the good in reality deteriorates with each of his revelations. This leads to Holden's obsession for an Odyssey-like voyage away from reality. Temperature also plays an important role in overwhelming the reader with the depressing mood of reality. Holden uses temperature quite often to make the reader feel uneasy and uncomfortable as he reads. This lets one feel Holden's misery and allows one to incorporate the hatred of the reality through Holden's eyes. Holden characterizes the temperature in the beginning as "cold as a witch's teat (2)." Holden then describes why he feels that way, which includes that someone stole his jacket and gloves, while he was at his Pencey Academy. This leads to the emphasis on the appearance vs. reality of Pencey. Pencey mounts supposedly to an ambiance of well-educated and morally right men, while Holden instead shows how thieves roam the halls and rooms. The reality of Pencey scars him mentally, and impels his apathy towards his eternal suspension. The reader finds out that, "At Pencey, you either froze to death or died of the heat (23)." This foreshadows the extremist view of Holden. Here, he displays the lack of finding a middle area, and both ends suffering the same consequence. This also is analogous with his view of reality, that either way you are cooked. Holden relates himself to the ducks and wonders where they go when the lake freezes over. In a sense, he feels his life has frozen over and he needs to escape reality like the ducks. The most extreme form of cold temperature is ice, and that is where Holden feels surrounds him. The temperature outside never raised, it was only frigid. This shows how the reality of the world could be escaped when he departed to a house, but he always ends up cold again. He talks about how hot he felt when Mr. Antolini pats him on his head inside Mr. Antolini's house, then the next thing "I [Holden Caufield] was getting sorta cold (95)." The temperature relates to how people can evade reality, but they always have to come back in the end. Holden parallels the two extremes of death and temperature when he says, " I kept worrying that I was getting pneumonia, with all those hunks of ice in my hair, and that I was going to die." This correlation portrays Holden's reality and its virulent extremes. Holden expresses how the extremes of death and temperature exist in every day life, and portrays them as flaws in order to incorporate his purpose of displaying his aversion towards the reality of the world. I enjoyed the novel and Holden's depiction of the real world, and the way the book did not hide the truth. The world is full of corrupt and phony people. Holden views this phoniness and through his book attempts to educe it to his readers.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad at all
Review: When my teacher first mentioned that we were going to be reading 'Catcher in the Rye', I thought it was going to be an extremely boring book that would take hours to read because it was so boring. Boy, was I wrong. I had to read this book for sophomore english class and I think it is a good book. It is about a teenager who is struggling to enter adulthood. He constantly wants to save the innocent children from entering the exprienced world of adulthood. Although, in order to enjoy the book you have to look for the hidden messages of this 'child-adult' theme, which J.D. Salinger did a great job using different items as symbols. Yet, although it is a great book, there is some foul language (but not extremely offensive words). Yet, Holden Caulfield (the main character) has to use them to build up his character and portray part of the theme. I did not really like how the book ended, but once you understand the world of innocence/experience, it makes a lot more sense. It is a great read, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read a book in 2 hours. I could barely put it down because it was so easy to get hooked on.

Rating:
Summary: I finally caught up with a "classic"
Review: All throughout my adolesence I had been told to read this book and that I would enjoy it immensely. I never did though, as I was always busy with sci fi, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, and Stephen King books at the time. Then fast forward a few years and I'm in my early 20's and realizing I don't read for my personal enjoyment nearly as much as I used to anymore. I finally ordered this mass market paperback version of this J.D. Salinger "classic" and gave it a read and was very happy with it.

Salinger has a style of writing that is one of the most fluid and easy to read of any author I have ever read. He is able to be descriptive to the point that you can truly see everything the character does, yet at the same time does so in such a manner that it doesn't bog down the pacing or bore the reader which is quite hard to do. Catcher In The Rye is one of those page turners that will keep you up until 4 am because you can't put it down, you are always wanting to read just one more page and see what happens in young Holden's life.

The story itself is well known, Holden Caufield is a troubled teenager being kicked out of a prep school and spending a few days in New York before going home. The book follows Holden and his adventures along the way from a first person point of view. Holden a very very cynical young man, and his character is the reason I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5. I myself was a teenager who was quite cynical and untrusting of other people, but nowhere near the degree this character is, and at times the overuse of him finding everyone to be "phonies" got a bit annoying.

Overall I highly reccommend this book to anyone, particuarly teens and 20 somethings who have yet to read it for whatever reason. It's not very long, at about 220 pages and can be read in one long sitting or a few shorter sittings if need be.

Rating:
Summary: HC: Prophet or Pseudo-Martyr??
Review: I'm 23, read this 3 or 4 years ago, and still haven't figured it out. Now, I'm no scholar, far from it...but most of the reviewers here get a big fat "F" with respect to contributing literary criticism of any value. Reminds me more of the following dialogue from the movie "Throw Mamma From the Train":

"It's whacking material." "Well I think it's very brave." "I think it's vulgar." "That's what they said about Twain." "That's what I'm saying about him."

"I think you're vulgar" "I think you're a no-talent little s**t."

I did however, find one reviewer's criticism to be very insightful, which I am quoting from:

"The world is full of bitterly unhappy people who confuse cynicism and hostility toward the world with artistic sensitivity. Many of them write reviews of books and movies, as they have done here. But avoid such people. They live lives of misery, and spread the misery around so they don't have to be alone in their hatred of the world. And "Catcher in the Rye" is their favorite book."

IMHO, this guy's review is intriguing. Perhaps Holden's entire narrative could be equated with a 16-year old boy who has a fight with his parents, screams, "YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND ME!!!" and then storms out of the house in tears. Is that what happened in this case?

If anyone wants to talk about Catcher please e-mail me at [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Want to hear all that David Copperfield kind of stuff?
Review: Ever since I was really young, I have been hearing about the "Catcher In The Rye", and what an amazing piece of work it was, how it was going to live forever,how it deserved every prize possible, ect. And when I saw in on my eighth grade reading list, I thought, well, why not? I should read it. Fall in love with it, as everyone told me I would. Well. So I read it. And while "The Catcher In The Rye" is a good book, and a really good book, I must say, I have read better. It really isn't the one of the worlds Wonders, believe it or not.

Holden is a cynical guy, charming, nice, open, honest, sweet and funny, a rebal at times, way critcal, and pretty much a liar. And in the book he mentions what phonies everyone are. Yet, he, at times, was phony too. Since I read the book a long while ago it's pretty hard to remember, but let's try. Holden lies at every chance he gets, calls up girls he says he hates, becuase he wants to make out with them, judges people by how their suitcases look and cost, and wants to marry a girl cause she's pretty. But Holden? Phony? Never!

Still, you can relate to him. Holden doesn't feel like he belongs, and everyone feels like that sometimes. He feels everyone is phony, and a lot of people think that, too. He feels the stress of trying to fit in, of homones, school, parents... anyone who ever dreamed of being free, going wherever you want, whever you want, being totaly anoyynimas, (sorry,I can't spell that!), can relate to this book. This is a classic because it's about teen angst: once a story like that is written well, and this one is, it really can live forever, because this topic doesn't change. It still exists. You can realte,no matter what your age. So my point? Read it.