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Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a great book about a boy, and his life. He is suffering from depression. I suggest that you read this book. Believe me, I don't like very many books, but I can tell you this one I LOVE!!!
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Summary: The Catcher in the Rye is a Good Book, but not the Good Book
Review: If you're looking for a grand book in which the characters act as they do because they're secretly queer or because they're tired of oppressing women and Indians, then this is not the "text"--as the English majors like to refer to books--for you. Yes, "The Catcher in the Rye" is incredibly "obvious"--hence its perennial presence on so many tenth grade reading lists. But where others see cliched angst and and a lack of subtlety, I see authenticity. No other voice in literature captures the ineffable confusion of adolescence as well as Holden Caulfield's. Reading this book makes me feel young again, and that's worth at least the twenty dollars it costs for the vintage Little, Brown hardcover. If you were, or are, self-aware enough to regret the passing of your innocence, I think you'll enjoy this sad and wonderful book. Let the literary types malign it as they may--after all, it's only phonies who use words like "post-modern" and "deconstructionism."
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Summary: Forgive me
Review: for stealing your book * that's why I sent it back * I thought you were the one...
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Summary: A Classic, One of My Favorites
Review: Holden Caulfield, a teenager growing up in New York during the 1950s, has been expelled from yet another school. (This time, it's Pencey Prep.) His teachers had found him to be incompetent and an underachiever. After coming to the conclusion the so-called "friends" he had made were phonies, Holden decides he has no reason to stay. He packs his bags and leaves, deciding to "take a vacation" in New York before returning to his parents' inevitable wrath. Told as a monologue, The Catcher in the Rye not only describes Holden's thoughts and activities throughout these few days, but it also goes back to his past. He describes some of his true friends, how his parents and childhood were,and gives reasons for his actions. (Like deciding not to have sex with a prostitute.) These few days can probably be best described as a developing nervous breakdown, a result of his unexplained depression, impulsive spending and generally odd, erratic behavior. However, life continues on around Holden as it always has, with the majority of people ignoring the changes that occur in him- until it begins to get them seriously ticked off. Progressively through the novel we are challenged to think about society's attitude to the human condition - does society have an 'ostrich in the sand' mentality, a deliberate ignorance of the emptiness that can characterize human existence? And if so, when Caulfield begins to probe and investigate his own sense of emptiness and isolation, before finally declaring that the world is full of 'phonies' with each one out for their own phony gain, is Holden actually the one who is going insane, or is it society which has lost it's mind for failing to see the hopelessness of its own existence? This is a timeless classic, not to be missed.
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Summary: A MUST READ CLASSIC
Review: This is a timeless classic. J. D. Salinger's character, Holden Caulfield, is perfectly developed in the book. It's amazing how Salinger was able to remain true to the character throughout the book. This should be required reading.
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Summary: i'm a reader far away!
Review: this book was the book which affected me most.i'm a chinese,in such a country,the mode of education was very strict.in such a system,the student has few problities to resist the teaching system,although it is old and not be liking.
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Summary: Tools of Ignorance!!
Review: This is one of those books where your interpretation changes as you yourself change. I guess that means that you have less sympathy for the character, an angst ridden adolescent, the older and more mature you get. Yogi Berra said it best....to paraphrase "I thought Catcher in the Rye was about baseball, but it was just about some whiny kid." That being said, the book, released in the early 1950's, portrays Holden Caulfied as the paradoxical "all-knowing/totally confused" adolescent. The story takes place over a period of several days after Caulfield has been expelled from prep school. His cynical observations on his sorry state of affairs and his contempt for teachers, phonies and apparently all adults in general ring amazingly contemporary despite the book's being nearly 50 years old. I read this book in college, then later as a married adult and parent. It speaks volumes to the alienation of youth in a fast-paced engaging prose. For those who read this growing up, it is worth another look from an adult perspective. You'll be amazed at how different your reaction will be from the first time you read it.
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Summary: The Catcher in the Rye--a book for teens
Review: I found this book to be a good read for teens. Holden Caulfield, the main character, is an unpopular, confused teen, to whom almost everyone can relate. He uses profanity, talks of "phony" people, and is trying to grow up. Later on, Holden is shown as a character who becomes depressed and sees nothing to enjoy in life. Everything is everyone else's fault. As the book continues, Holden's impending downfall is evident, and he will only get worse before he gets better. I feel that teens can relate to Holden, but yet see his problems and why not to be like him in every way. However, just because he is not popular is not why he is a "loser"...it has to do, moreso, with his individual personality and personal problems. I enjoyed this book, and Salinger's use of language to make Holden a more real character.
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Summary: mmmmmmmmmm''
Review: I was 41 years old when i first read this book, I have since read it many times. I my self am not a writer , I loved the book, But it did "get'' to me in a way no other book has before.(so much so) True , I want more of holden. etc. Thats all i have to say about that"....Thanks'
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Summary: The unknown future of Holden Caulfield
Review: JD Salinger wrote six stories for the New Yorker mentioning Holden Caulfield. Since the book began in 1941, I'm assuming the book took place around then - making his 1945 story, the last, true, and, ultimately, depressing as hell. Holden's brother, Vincent (or DB in the book, apparantly), narrates a very short story where he expresses disdain over Holden's being MIA. It's ultimately revealed that Holden Caulfield dies overseas, a mere four or five years after Catcher takes place. I don't know what's more depressing, that, or the fact that, in the book, the biggest phony of them all is Holden Caulfield.
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