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Summary: Phony World
Review: I enjoyed the book while I was reading it, the language Holden uses is really good and the slang words suit him perfectly. I liked how JD Salinger gives life to Holden to the point that you feel identified with him and the phoniness of the world.
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Summary: Everything is a phony
Review: This book is one of the most enjoyable books that I have ever read. It is about a seventeen-year-old boy named Holden Caufield that is expelled from Pencey Prep. He doesn't want to tell his parents that he was kicked out of school and goes to New York City to spend a couple of days. Here he has a lot of adventures. Holden is a boy that thinks that everything is phony, he seems to hate everything, sometimes gets depressed, and is a terrible compulsive lyer. This book is mostly for teenagers, and talks about a lot of real issues that many people face in the world; it is also very easy to read.
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Summary: The Best Book That I Have Read in Years
Review: "The Catcher in the Rye," By J. D. Salinger was one of the best books that I have read in a very long time. The main Character, Holden Caulfield, in my opinion was a whinny immature, little child, like many people I know. I did not sympathize with him when he would complain about anything and everything or when he would get into trouble. I did however like the main message, in my opinion, that I believe Salinger was trying to portray, which was that you need to find out who out who you really are. This book was fabulous, and I would recommend it to just about anyone.
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Summary: One for your inner adolescent...
Review: I read this book for the first time when I was 15 and felt (as do many teenagers) that I was Holden Caulfield. Forget that Holden came from a priveleged, urban background, while I was lower middle class and from a small town. The experience of feeling alienated, wondering if you were even sane, and discovering that the world is populated by fools and "phonies" provided all the identification any 60s teen would need. Rereading it now, in my late 40s, I have a somewhat different, perhaps more mature perspective--I have made my peace with the "phonies", as we all must to survive in this world. In fact, I have even come to see that the phonies can be lost souls in their own right and perhaps deserving of a little compassion. But Holden still speaks to my "inner adolescent" and his righteous anger at the ways of the world invokes something beyond nostalgia in this reader. Holden's experience in post-WWII America reflects the confusion and spiritual hunger we "post-Moderns" are still experiencing. We emerged from the 40s with no easy answers and no absolutes. Holden had no idea, but in his own awkwardly adolescent way, he was walking the Existentialist path.
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Summary: Are we, too, 'phonies'?
Review: The Catcher in the Rye is definitely a book requiring reflection upon completion. Holden Caulfield, as portrayed by this author, was merely an actor on society's stage, hoping to find the right exit. In some ways I find myself relating to Holden - often times annoyed by the world's fakes and 'phonies'. Those people who put on warm smiles and yet stare cold eyes. But aren't we all those such 'phonies' at times, putting up fronts, keeping out the spectators of our soul? I don't feel the intensity of Holden's alienation from the world was completely justified. His senseless vulgarity and disregard and distaste for those around him made the immaturity of his character quite clear. Perhaps all of this controversy was a front put up to protect himself from the world. Maybe he had the illusion that if he hinders himself from the rest of the world that life's pain and anguish would never again taint him. This is illustrated by his last two lines: "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do you'll start missing everybody." Life is full of both happiness and misfortune. If you shelter yourself from it, you are merely cheating yourself of life. Don't misunderstand my review; it is just critiquing Holden's character. Overall, the book itself was well written and flowing in its entirety. I might even go as far as to say I liked it. Although I don't agree with the extent of Holden's personality, J.D. Salinger, clearly knew what he was doing when writing this thought-deriving book. Perhaps upon reflection is makes us all want to take a closer look at our own personalities. Are we, too, merely one of the many 'phonies' the Holden so deeply hates?
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Summary: A little Holden in all
Review: This book opened my eyes to the world. After reading this, one never lookas at one's self or at the world the same. Every one sees a little of Holden in them self, and if you don't, then you are lying to your self. This book WILL make you think and see the world difrently. You must read this book in your lifetime.
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Summary: The most famous book of our time
Review: One of the most famous books of our time that you can read over and over again. The Catcher in the Rye is about a young boy nmed Holden Caulfield who isn't quite the best student at school. He gives you his views on phonies, who are the majority of people on this planet, groupies and school. Holden takes you through an adventure, in which he gets kicked out of school and travels to New York to go home and face his parents. On the way there he meets and talks to moms, prostitutes, teachers, phonies and his sister Phoebe. He acts in most instances like normal teenagers would act. Kids like lying to parents about thier own kids, telling them stories about how goodie goodie their son or daughter is even though you hate them. Kids also like to act as if they were older, kids love to run away and go do something sparatic and giving support to thier siblings is another thing kids do. This book is really easy to read and the description of characters is outstanding. When you read this you think it really happened in real life. Salinger did an excellent job describing events that you feel you have personally experienced. This is a definite read.
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Summary: The Catcher in the Rye
Review: I suppose you either read this book and love it or read it and hate it. I loved it. I read this in eight grade, and thought it was easily one of the best books I'd read up until that point. Holden Caulfield is a moving character and Salinger takes pains to make you see the world through his eyes. The emotionality of the story was impressive, and I can honestly say that this "moved me". If you're a teen, read this book because Holden is the romantic rebel up against a sea of troubles. If you're an adult, read this book to see what the teens are thinking.
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Summary: Holden Caulfield, the original rebel without a cause.
Review: I was seventeen when I first read this book and quickly became obsessed with it. Why? Because, unlike so many pieces of literature, it didn't FEEL like literature. It felt like LIFE to me. I was a young man, and it struck a chord with me. The story doesn't consist of situations that feel carefully plotted...they just seem to HAPPEN, as they do in life. And the writing style isn't typical high-brow creative-writing-class style. It's real...as if someone were telling a story and you were listening. Okay...so Holden may have his problems, he may be misguided, he may be at fault in certain situations...but he isn't perfect...that's the point...he's just a human being...like any of us. He hasn't got it all figured out...or even close. He's just working with what he has...living the life he's been given. And he's honest...when he errs, he admits it full-on and takes responsibility. And when faced with dishonesty, he recoils in disgust. The fact that there are people who CAN'T UNDERSTAND why so many readers relate to Holden is astounding to me. He's just like so many of us in so many ways...he's confused, he's discontented, he's fed up, he's lonely, and he's bitter. It's our faults, not our virtues, which make us human. And Holden Caulfield embodies so much of the human spirit that over a half-century after the first printing of "The Catcher in the Rye," so many people still find this book fascinating...because they can look at Holden and say, in at least a few instances, "I've been there." And whether we like to admit it or not, there's a little bit of Holden in all of us. It's his faults that make us real...and it's his virtues that make us shine.
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Summary: Interesting to know
Review: 6) Book Review The Catcher in the Rye is an American text in 26 chapters by J.D. Salinger. It was published for the first time in 1951. The main character, Holden Caulfield, sixteen years narrates his own story from the time when he has dismissed from his third private school to return Ill and in a state physical and mental shock, to the shelter of his home in New York three days later. Before this novel, J.D. Salinger was of basic non-literary status. The Catcher in the Rye was his first step onto the literary playing field. This initial status left Salinger, as a serious writer, almost unique as a sort of free agent, not bound to one or more schools of critics, like many of his contemporaries were. This ability to write freely, his status as nobody in the literary world, was Salinger's greatest asset. Holden's story is in first- person narrative, and is told in Holden own language with unconscious humour. It is just before Christmas and Holden Caulfield, has been kicked out of the exclusive Pencey Prep, a school in Pennsylvania. Life at Pencey was dreary, artificial, and of course, expensive. It was the latest schools were Holden got the ax. Understandably he's in no hurry to found his parents. So He takes his stuff and what money he has and went to a hotel in New York City. There he passed few days living new experiences. He is involved with a variety of persons including taxi drivers, two nuns, three girls from Seattle, a prostitute, and a former teacher. And the sad ending in which Holden ends up in a mental ward is depressing. 'The Catcher in The Rye' gives us a chance to catch quick, half-amused, half-frightened glimpses of ourselves and our contemporaries, as Salinger confronts us with his brilliant mirror images. What makes the book so good is that it is realistic and believable. It could happen to anyone. In fact, it happens to hundreds of teenagers every year. Besides, out of all the characters in popular literature, Holden is probably one of the most "real" to his readers. All this is not to say that only teenagers will like the book. They are more likely to like it, but anyone could like it. It is a realistic description of the world. Many of the things said in the book about human nature are so dead-on accurate that is it damn near scary.
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