The Catcher In The Rye (Paperback) by J.D. Salinger - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

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Mar 25, 2008

Kathy rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769177)

I read the end of The Catcher in the Rye the other day and found myself wanting to take Holden Caulfield by the collar and shake him really, really hard and shout at him to grow up. I suppose I've understood for some time now that The Catcher in the Rye -- a favorite of mine when I was sixteen -- was a favorite precisely because I was sixteen. At sixteen, I found Holden Caulfield's crisis profoundly moving; I admired his searing indictment of society, his acute understanding of human nature, his...more I read the end of The Catcher in the Rye the other day and found myself wanting to take Holden Caulfield by the collar and shake him really, really hard and shout at him to grow up. I suppose I've understood for some time now that The Catcher in the Rye -- a favorite of mine when I was sixteen -- was a favorite precisely because I was sixteen. At sixteen, I found Holden Caulfield's crisis profoundly moving; I admired his searing indictment of society, his acute understanding of human nature, his extraordinary sensitivity (I mean, come on, he had a nervous breakdown for God's sake, he had to be sensitive). At sixteen, I wanted to marry Holden Caulfield. At forty, I want to spank him. After all, Holden's indictment of society boils down to the "insight" that everybody is a phony. That's the kind of insight a sixteen year old considers deep. A forty year old of the grown-up variety recognizes Holden's insight as superficial and banal, indulging in the cheapest kind of adolescent posturing. It suggests a grasp of society and of human nature that's about as complex as an episode of Dawson's Creek. Holden and his adolescent peers typically behave as though the fate they have suffered (disillusionment and the end of innocence) is unique in human history. He can't see beyond the spectacle of his own disillusionment (and neither can J. D. Salinger); for all his painful self-consciousness, Holden Caulfield is not really self-aware. He can't see that he himself is a phony.

Compare Salinger's novel of arrested development, for instance, with a real bildungsroman, Great Expectations. Holden Caulfield is an adolescent reflecting on childhood and adolescence; Pip Pirrip is an adult reflecting on childhood and adolescence. Holden Caulfield has the tunnel vision of teendom, and he depicts events with an immediacy and absorption in the experience that blocks out the broader context, the larger view. Pip Pirrip has the wonderful double vision of a sensitive adult recollecting the sensitive child he used to be; he conveys at the same time the child's compelling perspective and the adult's thoughtful revision of events. While Holden Caulfield litters his narrative with indignant exposes of phonies and frauds, Pip Pirrip skillfully concentrates on "the spurious coin of his own make" -- that is, without letting the child Pip and the adolescent Pip in on the joke, he exposes himself as a phony. Pip Pirrip grows up. Holden Caulfield has a nervous breakdown.

I suppose the only reason I begrudge him his breakdown is that so many in our culture -- many more, unfortunately, than just the legitimate adolescents among us -- seem fixated on Holden as a symbol of honesty and socially-liberating rebellion. We view nervous collapse and dysfunction as a badge of honor, a sign -- to put it in Caulfieldian terms -- that we are discerning enough to see through all the crap. Our celebration of overwrought disaffection reminds me of the last sentence of Joyce’s Araby: “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.” Here is the adolescent pose non-pareil. Equally self-accusing and self-aggrandizing, it captures the adolescent at the precise moment when his own disillusionment becomes the object of his grandiose and self-dramatizing vision. That’s the kind of crap that Holden Caulfield (and J. D. Salinger) cannot see through. And it is often the kind of crap that we “adults” like to slosh around in.

The Barney beating of several years ago is another symptom of our arrested adolescence, our inability to ride the wave of disillusion into the relatively calm harbor of adulthood -- as though flailing around in the storm and raging at the wind were in themselves marks of distinction and a superior sensibility. I remember a news story about a woman in a Barney costume being seriously injured when a rabid (and probably drunken) anti-Barney fanatic attacked the big purple dinosaur at some public event. Now, I don’t know the age of the Barney-beater, but the act itself is a supremely adolescent one, in which the impulsive response to disillusionment is to lash out at those symbols of childhood which made the biggest dupes of us. At the dawn of adolescence, when Barney begins to appear cloying and false, it seems natural to want to beat up on him, as though it was Barney himself who pulled one over on us instead of our own poignant and necessary misapprehension of the nature of things. I could see Holden Caulfield beating up on Barney (at least rhetorically), and I could see Holden Caulfield missing Barney (as he misses all the “phonies” at the end of the book), but I cannot see Holden Caulfield accepting the postlapsarian Barney on new terms, as a figure who is meant for children and not for him. For all his touching poses about wanting to be the “catcher in the rye,” what Holden really wants is not to save children but to be a child again.(less)

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Dec 26, 2007

Shana rated it:

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I read this book for the first time in the 8th grade. I had to get my mom to sign a permission slip because of the cursing. Before I began reading, I had so many expectations. Back then, I read Seventeen Magazine, and back then, Seventeen Magazine ran brainy features about books and poetry. There was one feature where they asked people what book changed their lives, and something like more than half said Catcher in the Rye. I think there might have been some celebrity comments in there, too...more

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Jun 19, 2007

Melanie rated it:

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bookshelves: classics

Read in November, 2006

As a child, we are protected from life. There really aren’t many choices available, and we are certainly sheltered from a lot of the harder parts of life. It seems like children don’t feel the need for meaning quite like adults do- maybe because they aren’t forced to face the daily grind. There’s boredom, but that is not what I am talking about. Kids don’t really have to compromise like adults do. As you enter adulthood you could start to see things and people as phony or fake. Maybe n...more As a child, we are protected from life. There really aren’t many choices available, and we are certainly sheltered from a lot of the harder parts of life. It seems like children don’t feel the need for meaning quite like adults do- maybe because they aren’t forced to face the daily grind. There’s boredom, but that is not what I am talking about. Kids don’t really have to compromise like adults do. As you enter adulthood you could start to see things and people as phony or fake. Maybe not people, but certain tasks or events certainly are. There’s a constant struggle in all of us between the meaningful and the mundane; the temporary and the eternal. There is a conflict, simply of time and energy. We desire the intentional and struggle towards spirituality; all while trying to earn a paycheck, wash our dishes, and sleep each night. It kind of reminds me of what I picture an AA meeting to look like. I think, rarely could someone find a place where people are more vulnerable, open, and honest with each other. Even if they win over addiction… how could life ever feel as full after that brief moment shared with others who completely understand? At the same time, the point of those meetings is to help people live- not just free from drugs, but maybe free to live in the mundane? Free to enjoy the dance of life, the needs of the soul balanced with the chores too. This doesn’t have to be depressing, but it does require compromise- or a sense of a time and place for everything- including the day-to-day.

Catcher in the rye touches on some of these questions. Holden struggles with growing up. He sees everything as meaningless and adults as predictable and fake. I think he is mourning the loss of his innocence… maybe not just right from wrong, but the loss of dreams growing up seems to require. Holden, while at the museum that is exactly the same as it was when he was a kid says he likes it, because each time you visit "the only thing that would be different would be you…" and goes on to say "certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it’s too bad anyway." One thing I thought of to help explain Holden's struggle with growing up is this: Coffee. When I was a kid, I used to smell my dad's coffee- that strong sugary-sweet smell of roasted beans. You wait for your chance to be let in on this excellent secret. Thinking it is just the caffeine that is preventing your parents from giving you a taste. Finally, they do and then all your dreams of that sweet flavor come crashing down! It's wrecked! Coffee isn't at all what you thought it was! That is, until the day you give it another chance, you start to be able to smell and taste the different tones coffee has. You can appreciate it for its varied, and almost living flavors. You see… Coffee isn't bad- it just wasn't what you always thought. The key is in finding the hidden flavors and getting over the fact that it will never taste as sweet as it smells. I think Holden struggled with the initial shock, that although life is more bitter than it "smells", or than you think it will be, there are the hidden joys and sweet flavors that make it almost better!

This book doesn’t really set out to answer any of the questions it raises. Holden experiences the extremes of entering into adulthood and relates it in a way everyone, maybe especially, teenagers can understand. He is a flawed character who is desperate and depressed. As the reader, you can see why he feels the way he does, as he explains it so well you almost feel it with him. However, you can also see the flaws in his thinking. The author doesn't romanticize Holden's life, you don't read it thinking he has some special key to life that we all need. You simply feel his struggle to fit in and hope eventually he can learn to play the game and see the beauty that is there, hidden a little.(less)

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May 08, 2008

Big Red rated it:

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Read in March, 2008

J.D. Salinger’s ‘Catcher in the Rye’ was published on July 16, 1951. It was his first novel. It became very popular among young adolescents yet not so popular with older generations. I personally thoroughly enjoyed every part of this book. I felt very close to Holden Caulfield, the main character in the story, as I read it.
Holden Caulfield, a sixteen year old boy from New York, was quite unlike kids his age. He had no interest in being popular or social. From the very beginning he l...more J.D. Salinger’s ‘Catcher in the Rye’ was published on July 16, 1951. It was his first novel. It became very popular among young adolescents yet not so popular with older generations. I personally thoroughly enjoyed every part of this book. I felt very close to Holden Caulfield, the main character in the story, as I read it.
Holden Caulfield, a sixteen year old boy from New York, was quite unlike kids his age. He had no interest in being popular or social. From the very beginning he lets us into part of his personal life. His parents are very touchy and his mother is especially protective. It becomes clear very quickly where Holden’s interests lie and where they start to veer off. He tends to lean away from the fake in the world and is a teller of what is real.
Holden is not a fan of the movies at all. He saw his brother, D.B., throw away his natural writing talent all for a large Hollywood check. Any other boy Holden’s age would have been absolutely ecstatic to have a sibling working amongst the stats in Hollywood, but not Holden. It was all far too “phony” for him; and phony is his worst enemy.
Salinger’s use of sarcasm and irony is beautiful and hilarious. As I read through each chapter I found myself highlighting funny, sarcastic things Holden would say or think (and trust me, there are DOZENS of time where this occurs.) One specific time in Chapter 8 he is talking to a cab driver who is acting like a real fool. Holden says to the readers, “He certainly was good company. Terrific personality.”
Salinger’s character Holden is actually a lot like Salinger in his real life. Like Holden, Salinger was known for his reclusive nature. Uninterested with the fakeness of the world, Holden keeps his distance from phony people. After Salinger’s success of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, he slowed down his publishing and slowly but surely drifted out of the public eye. To this day Salinger refuses any offers to have ‘The Catcher’ put on the big Hollywood screen. Salinger’s ex lover, Joyce Maynard, even once said that, “The only person who might ever have played Holden Caulfield would have been J.D. Salinger.” It seems to me that it is no coincidence that Holden is no fan of Hollywood and that Salinger in real life and doesn’t want anything to do with turning his popular novel into a movie. Holden says, “If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies, Don’t even mention them to me.”
Since I have learned more about Salinger’s personal life, I recognize a lot of Salinger’s personality in Holden. In the story, Holden has overbearing parents much like Salinger’s parents. Salinger said his mother was over protective. Salinger has one sibling, a sister, which is ironic because it is Holden’s sister Phoebe who has a profound influence on Holden. He often talks about her with very high regards.
Holden is not a character who tried to sugarcoat the way he sees the fakeness around him. Holden, making fun of the people around him, often says things like “you would’ve puked” and “it was very phony”. I think that is another one of the reasons I like his character so much. For example, he is quite upset with the fact that his brother D.B. is selling his work to Hollywood instead of using his talents for his own pleasure. Holden even says that his brother is his favorite author. Salinger himself is a man who wrote for his own pleasure and likeness.
I made a similar connection to a girl named Sally that Holden likes in the book, to a real life lover of Salinger’s named Oona. Oona O’Neil was self-absorbed and stuck up, according to Salinger, yet he still phoned and wrote her letters quite often. Holden’s “Oona” in the story was a girl named Sally Hayes. Though he found her extremely irritating he thought she was very attractive as well. After spending a day with her, he pointed out about a dozen instances where he thought she was being “phone as hell”. By the end of their only meeting in the book, Holden says to Sally, “You give me a royal pain in the ass if you want to know the truth.” The real life Oona O’Neil ended up breaking it off with Salinger and married the famous actor, Charlie Chaplin.
Despite Holden being a sixteen year old teenage boy he acts much older than his age. One time in the story he has the chance to be with a prostitute but instead of acting like a pig, he starts to feel sorry for her and instead tried to have a conversation with her. He even offers to pay her for good conversation instead of for sex. He also stays alone in hotels randomly, drinks at bars and clubs often, and even tells people he’s older than he really is. But the reason I find his character mature and intellectual is for other reasons.
Holden does not hold money or material things to be really important. He is more excited to hang out with his kid sister than he is any other time in the entire book. He is content with something that would probably be boring to other guys his age.
Like many teenagers, Holden is often depressed. The way he deals with it most times actually breaks my heart in a way. He likes to talk to his deceased kid brother, Allie. He will take a real event that he can remember where he was talking with him and pretend he is talking to him again. He says, “I started talking out loud to Allie. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed.” It is really very heart wrenching to hear Holden talk about his brother. One of my favorite moments in the book is when Holden and Phoebe are talking in Phoebe’s room and she points out that Holden doesn’t like anything. Holden responds quickly by saying, “I like Allie. And I like doing what I’m doing right now. Sitting here with you and talking and thinking about stuff…” Phoebe says to Holden, “Allie’s dead-you always say that! If somebody’s dead and everything, and in heaven then it isn’t really--”. Holden interrupts her with his final comeback, “I know he’s dead! Don’t you think I know that? I can still like him, though, can’t I? just because somebody’s dead, you don’t just stop liking them, for God’s sake- especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive and all.”
One of the most beautiful things about ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is the way Salinger uses symbolism. From Holden’s red hunting hat, to Jane Gallagher’s checker playing technique, Salinger wrapped up more than meets the eye into things you never would have dreamed. The main thing that drew me into this story is the realness of Holden’s character. He is a teenage boy with a teenage boy’s mind but seems to have far more common sense than anyone else around him. He is not a jock. He is not a math whiz or a science whiz. He is not really interested in sports. He sort of makes up his own category; a category that I call ‘the genuine’. He is on his own a lot and loves it at first, but happiness and love are meant to be shared with others. It has a much less meaning when by itself and he realizes it by the end of the novel. He is growing intellectually little by little throughout the whole book. He realizes what really makes him happy. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone and everyone who would like to read a story that could possibly change the way they view the world. I have honestly laughed outloud to myself as I read this story. Yes, there is talk about drinking, sex, and lots of cussing, but if you are going to avoid reading this story because of that then your missing out on a beautiful masterpiece.
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Aug 04, 2007

Cheyenne rated it:

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If I could give this book a zero, I would. I absolutely hated it. Generally, I don't hate books, either. Usually it's a very strong dislike, and generally, I give them a second chance. But no, I will never be reading this book again.

In my opinion, Holden is the worst character in the English language. Salinger tried just too damn hard to make him 'universal', to the point where he becomes unrealistic. His train of thought is annoying and repetitive, and God, those catchphrases of his...more

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Jul 12, 2009

tadpole rated it:

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bookshelves: 2009, salinger

Read in July, 2009

recommends it for: everyone but phonies and athletic bastards

I was worried as hell about reading this book again. The last time I read it was about a thousand years ago when I was just a kid. I was lousy with angst just like good old Holden back then. I really was. Now that I’m a crummy old guy I figured that I wouldn’t like it anymore. That’s the one thing about crummy old guys, they always hate books that kids like. Every time I reread a corny book that I really liked when I was a kid it makes me want to give the writer a buzz and ask what the hel...more I was worried as hell about reading this book again. The last time I read it was about a thousand years ago when I was just a kid. I was lousy with angst just like good old Holden back then. I really was. Now that I’m a crummy old guy I figured that I wouldn’t like it anymore. That’s the one thing about crummy old guys, they always hate books that kids like. Every time I reread a corny book that I really liked when I was a kid it makes me want to give the writer a buzz and ask what the hell is going on. It’s like they are trying to give you the time in the back of a cab when you don’t feel like getting the time at all. It’s damn depressing, I swear to God it is. If you want to know the truth, you probably couldn’t even talk to a phony writer on the phone. You would just end up talking to his butler or some snobbish person like that and asking if they would give the writer your message. He probably wouldn’t even do it. The thing with guys like that is that they will never give writers your messages. That’s something that annoys the hell out of me.

Turns out this is still a damn good book. Salinger kid is a great writer. He really is. Maybe I’m still just an angst-ridden sonuvabitch, but this part kills me:

“All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.”p.211

I’ll bet everyone is going to think that I’m just horsin’ around or trying to be all sexy talking like this. The reason for this corny review is because a thousand other people have already written reviews for this book and I’ll bet that they have already said everything that I want to say. It’s pretty depressing. It really is. That’s about all that I’m going to talk about. Now I just hope that no one writes “fuck you” on this review. That’s the thing with some people, they are always sneaking up and writing “fuck you” on your book reviews when you are not looking. They really are.

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Jun 18, 2008

Chris rated it:

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Read in June, 2008

recommended to Chris by: some crumby teacher

**Included on Time’s List of 100 Best Fiction of the 20th Century**

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is what I thought about “The Catcher In the Rye”, and my reasons for liking it or disliking it, and possibly even how I felt about the work each of the four times I’ve wasted my time reading it, and all that 'Mein Kampf' kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. Also, I’d probably ha...more **Included on Time’s List of 100 Best Fiction of the 20th Century**

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is what I thought about “The Catcher In the Rye”, and my reasons for liking it or disliking it, and possibly even how I felt about the work each of the four times I’ve wasted my time reading it, and all that 'Mein Kampf' kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. Also, I’d probably have to take the time to learn how to italicize things on GoodReads, which would probably be worthwhile, but my computer skills could easily be outshone by a resuscitated troglodyte fresh from an ice-block. Added to that, I don’t know how long I could go on trying to poorly mimic the book without wanting to puke, I mean, not only is it a crumby thing to do to, but it’s also phony as hell.

So what do I think about the madman exploits of old Holden Caufield, perhaps one of the most acclaimed protagonists in all of American literature? No terribly much, as a matter of fact: each time I’ve read this book I wanted to kill myself. Holden’s always saying things like that, I mean, if you were to wear one blue sock and one red sock, and maybe slowly skin your shrivelfig under the comforting cotton of a green sock, he’d say something like, “God how I hate how that guy messes around with his socks, it makes me want to kill myself.” In that case, you’d better hope you’re at least in possession of a decent valise, lest that bastard Caulfield spread some more wrath upon you for your clearly inferior luggage. That guy, he really cracks me up.

I never really understood why this book is so universally adored; sure, Holden is a slacker, the type of clown that every distraught kid envisions themselves to be, some gem in the rough with all the talent, but lacking the ambition to make a notable mark on the world which holds them back. But you grow up, if only to acknowledge you have no talents and still have no ambition, and instead of grabbing for that golden ring, you waste your time writing shitty reviews on shitty books here on goodreads on a ball-dampeningly warm Sunday afternoon. Come to think of it, that’s probably why so many appreciate this bumbling tale; like Holden, they probably equate themselves to that misshapen hunk of precious metal hidden beneath a untilled mound of Nebraskan soil, laying in wait for someone to unearth their sparkling brilliance for all the world to admire. Of course, when you realize Tucker Max probably felt the same way you immediately bathe in bromine and shave what remains of your flesh completely bald to scour the scourge as thoroughly as humanly possible. Perhaps it may be slightly more promising to delude yourself than resigning your life to the contemplation of just how lame you actually are.

So here’s a quick glimpse of what’s inspired so many lifelong laughingstocks. Here’s Holden fruitlessly swimming against the current, a complete nincompoop (let’s remember he’s Irish) who gets kicked out of school for being a moron and talks hard yet winds up getting the shit mercilessly beaten out of him by a crumby snob named Stradlater (a book about Studly Strad would have been far better) and a pimp named Maurice. Holden also feels the need to denounce everyone as a phony, though I find myself at a loss to imagine anything phonier than a wimpy, big-mouthed mick mollycoddled by daddy’s fat bankroll while attending prep school along with his stunning array of hand-crafted, Italian leather luggage. Let’s not gloss over the fact that Holden is probably impotent, as evidenced by his inability to lay the wood to Sally, Jane, or even a prostitute, perhaps his crowning disgrace. Either that or he’s queer, seeing as he duped poor Antolini by presenting his former mentor with the ultimate fantasy of a drunken, sexually-inexperienced youth with ‘no place to go’ and then, afraid that further action might expose his impotence, he felt the need to flee into the night, acting all startled about what just transpired. Let’s face it, Holden himself claims that similar ‘perverty’ stuff happened to him a lot as a kid, and then feigns shock when Antolini comes in to take a juicy bite of the bare bottom he so masterfully baited. All this weirdness coming from an awkward geek with a fondness for children ought to be enough to sway any who remain unconvinced thus far. You’re STILL not seeing the light?!? Seriously? Ok, last clue Caulfield is a deviant: the kid aspires to be a “catcher”. And this ‘catcher’ fantasy involves children. If you need further explanation I’ll be required to rent a jackhammer to pound the obvious into your skull.

This will hopefully be the last time that I read “The Catcher in the Rye”, as I’ve given it too many chances and always walked away completely disappointed. I will give Salinger's opus two stars, however, simply for the entertainment of laughing at it.
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Mar 21, 2008

Jason Pettus rated it:

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Read in March, 2008

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

The CCLaP 100: In which I read a hundred so-called "classics" for the first time, then write reports on whether they deserve the label
Review #10: The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger (1951)

The story in a nutshell:
Not so much of a traditional plot-based s...more

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Jul 31, 2007

Rick rated it:

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My theory as to this book's unusually polarizing nature: either you identify with Holden Caulfield or you don't.

Those who see themselves (either as they were or, God help them, as they are) in Holden see a misunderstood warrior-poet, fighting the good fight against a hypocritical and unfeeling world; they see in Salinger a genius because he gets it, and he gets them.

Those of us who don't relate to Holden see in him a self-absorbed whiner, and in Salinger, a one-trick-pony...more

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Jan 05, 2008

Jason rated it:

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Read in December, 2007

Beautiful!

I had been somewhat hesitant to read "The Catcher in the Rye" after snoozing through Salinger's "Nine Stories," but I'm glad I finally came around. This book is a work of genius.

The book is a "coming of age" tale, but it certainly transcends the adolescent garbage that fills up most of the genre. The protagonist is 16 year old Holden Caulfield - depressed, aimless, and disillusioned. The entire story covers just one December weekend ...more Beautiful!

I had been somewhat hesitant to read "The Catcher in the Rye" after snoozing through Salinger's "Nine Stories," but I'm glad I finally came around. This book is a work of genius.

The book is a "coming of age" tale, but it certainly transcends the adolescent garbage that fills up most of the genre. The protagonist is 16 year old Holden Caulfield - depressed, aimless, and disillusioned. The entire story covers just one December weekend in which he seeks to find direction in his life after flunking out of another prep school. As Caulfield contemplates his transition from adolescence to adulthood, he becomes disgusted with the utter "phoniness" of society and longs for the innocence of youth.

Where Salinger's masterpieces surpasses other notable coming of age novels such as "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man" and "This Side of Paradise" is in the treatment of social mores. Where these other novels offer a one-dimensional treatment of sexuality and religious apostasy as the sum-all of maturation, Salinger offers a more complicated, more realistic picture.

Caulfield's narrative certainly deals with sexuality, but he goes beyond the stock material of young man bucking sexual conventions. After first boasting about past sexual encounters, Caulfield admits he's actually a virgin. At an age in which sexual experience is a badge of honor for most young men, Caulfied decides that sex should be as much spiritual as physical and ought to be shared only with someone he really cares about. When his sexually experienced roommate goes out with an innocent childhood friend, Caulfield throws it down with the young man in protest against the perceived assault on innocence. Later, Caulfield accepts a prostitute into his room only to become depressed, pay the girl, and turn her out without accepting her services. The following day, Caulfield donates $10 to two humble nuns, the same amount paid to the whore the night before.

Salinger's treatment of religion is equally nuanced and equally honest. While claiming to be "practically an atheist," Caulfield also admits that he has a desire to pray. While disclaiming a belief in God, he occasionally asks what Christ would think about people's actions. In Caulfield's conflict, the reader sees a certain disgust with the phoniness of organized religion set against a sincere acceptance of Christ's actual message.

So while this book shares with other novels a contempt for societal mores, it is not a simple repudiation of religion in favor of unrestrained sexuality. Caulfield does reject most of the adult world he encounters as utterly "phony," but he does not follow the stock pattern laid down by earlier modernists. Caulfield questions it all, perhaps despising Hollywood above everything else.

So what does Caulfield accept after rejecting all of adult society? Childhood innocence. The only thing that makes this young man happy is spending time with children, his young sister most of all. Indeed, the section giving rise to the title of the work is a poignant plea for saving innocent children from the phoniness and corruption of the world.

So for all the past scandal about the profanity and sexuality in this work, there is much to be admired by the modern and the Christian alike. That's difficult to do, but Salinger pulls it off marvelously. Though we can't all agree what influences in society are corrupting, I think most everyone can agree that there is initially some purity that is corrupted.(less)

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May 24, 2007

Kelly rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769177)

bookshelves: 20th-century-postwar-to-late, fiction, truly-dreadful

Read in October, 2003

recommends it for: angsty teenagers, conosseiurs of emo

Ugh. Hate. Hate. Hate. Sorry, that's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of this book. I think the characters are ridiculous, and stupid, and frustrating. And not in a good way where I even care about the fact of if they get helped in the end or not. I want to see a book where Holden Caufield dies a painful, painful death. I just rolled my eyes both at the characters and at the prose. I just hated every second I was forced to talk about this book in class, and the female respnose to ...more

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Nov 29, 2007

Kristen P rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769177)

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: boring people

Kristen Parkes
Mrs. Ebarvia
World Literature Honors
11-19-07

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” And Thus begins the novel Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger. The story takes place in mid 1...more Kristen Parkes
Mrs. Ebarvia
World Literature Honors
11-19-07

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” And Thus begins the novel Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger. The story takes place in mid 1950’s in New York City, where adolescent Holden Caulfield roams around searching for a place to fit in. When Holden learns that once again he has been kicked out of the prestigious private all boys school in which he is enrolled in for this month, he decides to leave the quiet school life and return home once again to New York City.
Throughout this novel, I found many interesting aspects. The dialogue that Salinger wrote for Holden is truly capturing, and as a reader I begin to feel as though I grew up next door to the Caulfield’s my entire life. There is something about the way the main character goes about things, in such ways that no other person would be likely to think of. Holden is extremely dramatic, making it comedic and enrapturing for the reader. It was also interesting the amount of low self-esteem for which J.D Salinger provided for his main character. Holden is often depressed and this is clearly expressed at many points in the novel. Holden uses sarcasm, and although once again comedic, it makes it difficult for a reader to decide whether or not he is thinking.
This point leads us into the next idea about J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, his weaknesses. As hilarious and awkward Holden Caulfield was throughout the novel, as a reader, a majority of my time in the novel I felt confused and unable to keep up with the main character. Continuously, I would find myself re-reading pages, and even chapters to attempt to understand what was going on in Holden’s life at that moment. Another weakness clearly expressed was the fact that there was hardly a plot. Yes, it may be naïve that I like a love story, and a happy ending, but this novel had neither. It did not have so much as a rise or fall of the protagonist. In fact, it was as though there was a rollercoaster of rises and falls for the protagonist, but none of them significant. This caused me to be bored with the novel, and once again have trouble getting through it without drifting off to other places in my mind.
Although it may be true that a large portion of the United States thought that this novel was excellent and recommend it to all coming of age teens, I for one did not enjoy this novel; despite the comedy and intrigue. Even though this novel was not for me, I would recommend it to anyone whom enjoys male coming of age tales, for they would perhaps find it a better read than I have.

(less)

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Oct 06, 2007

Alex rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769177)

Read in September, 2007

In lieu of an actual review for this classic, I'll simply post from another message board where I discussed my current re-read of it, specifically the fact that so many people despise it for one reason or another:

Having finally given Catcher the time it deserved (I never finished it first time round) I can now honestly say that not appreciating it means you missed the point.

I can see how it could be unlikeable. Holden is an annoying narrator. He vascilates from one opini...more In lieu of an actual review for this classic, I'll simply post from another message board where I discussed my current re-read of it, specifically the fact that so many people despise it for one reason or another:

Having finally given Catcher the time it deserved (I never finished it first time round) I can now honestly say that not appreciating it means you missed the point.

I can see how it could be unlikeable. Holden is an annoying narrator. He vascilates from one opinion to the opposite in the span of a page, he rambles on often, he's got a low tolerance threshhold, and there are times he's just an ass. But, er, that's the point. If you don't like Holden, Salinger did his job.

On the same token, I find it hard to hate Holden, because I see bits of me in him. Less now than when I look back on when I was his age, but I think most teens should be able to relate to Holden, especially male teens. If you can't, you're either incredibly well adjusted, and if that's the case, you lucked out, or you're the sort of person that drives someone to become Holden, jaded by everything before graduating High School, convinced everyone is phony... not that Holden himself isn't phony at times, but every teen is.

The book isn't about events. The events are commonplace. They're supposed to be. It's about the character, and what he says, and to extrapolate, what it means. You could say it's cautionary, that Salinger is laughing at the spoiled rich brat he's writing Holden as, and that we the reader should take it as warning not to become him. We could see it as dystopian, that Salinger was commenting on the shallowness of American culture through the eyes of a child, one well-off enough to both see its most glaring pettiness as well as partake in it's seedier aspects. You could even see it as a bit of a commentary about what really matters... about how even the most cynical teen out there still has something they love (in Holden's case, family). You could even take that a step further, and see it psychologically... what damage a loss like that of Allie could cause in a young mind, etc. There's a lot to look into in The Catcher in the Rye... even the admittedly weak explaination of the title could spark discussion as to what it says about or means in terms of his character.

These are just the impressions I get from it... hardly researched, but then, the best book discussions shouldn't come from research but from your heart. I just think that with many classics, people start looking for something huge... a big, rollicking plot, some amazing humour or poetic language, and sometimes the brilliance of a book is so much more subtle. Not that Holden can't turn a phrase, and certainly not to say that there are times when Holden's sheer contradictory nature jumps the line into humorous, and not even to say there aren't some big and poignant moments in the mundanity (word?) of the plot... simply that in a book like this, even those moneymaker bits are understated. (less)

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May 26, 2007

Keely rated it:

(review of isbn 0241900972)

bookshelves: contemporary-fiction, novel, reviewed

Sometimes truth isn't just stranger than fiction, it's also more interesting and better plotted. Salinger helped to pioneer a genre where fiction was deliberately less remarkable than truth. His protagonist says little, does little, and thinks little, and yet Salinger doesn't string Holden up as a satire of deluded self-obsessives, he is rather the epic archetype of the boring douche.

I've taken the subway and had prolonged conversations on the street with prostitutes (not concerning ...more Sometimes truth isn't just stranger than fiction, it's also more interesting and better plotted. Salinger helped to pioneer a genre where fiction was deliberately less remarkable than truth. His protagonist says little, does little, and thinks little, and yet Salinger doesn't string Holden up as a satire of deluded self-obsessives, he is rather the epic archetype of the boring douche.

I've taken the subway and had prolonged conversations on the street with prostitutes (not concerning business matters), and I can attest that Salinger's depiction is often accurate to what it feels like to go through an average, unremarkable day. However, reading about an average day is no more interesting than living one.

Beyond that, Salinger doesn't have the imagination to paint people as strangely as they really are. Chekhov's 'normal' little people seem more real and alive than Salinger's because Chekhov injects a little oddness, a little madness into each one. Real people are almost never quite as boring as Salinger depicts them, because everyone has at least one original insight into the world.

Salinger's world is desaturated. Emotions and moments seep into one another, indistinct as the memories of a drunken party. Little importance is granted to events or thoughts, they simply pass by, each duly noted by the author.

What is interesting about this book is not that it is realistically bland, but that it is artificially bland. Yet, as ridiculous a concept as that is, it still takes itself entirely in earnest, never acknowledging the humor of its own blase hyperbole.

This allows the book to draw legions of fans from all of the people who take themselves as seriously as Holden takes himself. Since it is not a parody of bland egotism but a celebration, it was poised to inspire all the bland egotists who have resulted from the New Egalitarianism in Art, Poetry, Music, and Academia.

Those same folks who treat rationality and intellectual fervor like a fashion to be followed, imagining that the only thing required to be brilliant is to mimic the appearance and mannerisms of the brilliant; as if black berets were the cause of poetic inspiration and not merely a symptom.

One benefit of this is that one can generally sniff out pompous faux intellectuals by the sign that they hold up Holden as a sort of messianic figure. Anyone who marks out Holden as a role-model is either a deluded teen with an inflated sense of entitlement, or is trying to relive the days when they were.

There are those who appreciate this book because of the unfocused mood it creates, the moral greyness, the fact that it doesn't comment on or judge its characters, and makes no pretension to present its protagonist as either heroic or sympathetic. There is a sort of elegance in the lack of authorial intrusion.

Yet the book is not so pure: it was still written by an author, who chose the characters and moments he represents here, and by eschewing his own authorial intent, merely opens the book up to whatever interpretation the reader feels is appropriate. This seems especially troublesome when the general gist of the book is 'people are self-centered, and their lives are pointless'.

One begins to wonder what Salinger's purpose really was in writing a book that caresses the egos of the conceited and yet demands no thought from them. Perhaps there is more than previously recognized to the oft-remarked connection between The Catcher in the Rye and trust-fund emo hipsters with a deep-seated sense of entitlement.(less)

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Mar 15, 2009

Dahlia rated it:

bookshelves: 2009, dillema

Read in March, 2009

*Naga berlagak ala Holden*

Awalnya aku sempet kesal dengan buku yang begini-gini. Liat saja isinya, kalau di ucapkan tidak enak didengar penuh kata kasar dan sebagainya. Bikin puyeng. Kau tau maksudku? Kalau kalian tidak niat baca atau sebagainya lebih baik buku seperti ini dibakar atau dirobek-robek saja. Setengah-setengah bacanya hanya bakal bikin muntah. Aku serius ketika mengatakannya, ini buku bisa bikin stress. Aku kasih bocoran yah, si bajingan Holden, tokoh utama b...more

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Apr 07, 2007

Montambo rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769487)

bookshelves: the-best

recommends it for: people who aren't too cool

My favorite line: "All I need's an audience. I'm an exhibitionist. 'I'm the goddamn Governor's son,' I said. I was knocking myself out. Tap-dancing all over the place. "He doesn't want me to be a tap dancer. He wants me to go to Oxford. But it's in my goddam blood, tap-dancing."

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Oct 03, 2007

Cody Ross rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769487)

The Catcher and the Rye is a struggle between ending your teenage years and starting adulthood. Holden Caulfeild is struggling with just this problem. When the story first begins, he has just been kicked out of another school. Finding himself alone on a friday night Holden gets nervous becuase his roomate is on a date with a childhood friend of his. He can't help himself but wonder what his roomate and Jane are doing. Getting agitated by that and his dormatory roomate he decides to go to New...more The Catcher and the Rye is a struggle between ending your teenage years and starting adulthood. Holden Caulfeild is struggling with just this problem. When the story first begins, he has just been kicked out of another school. Finding himself alone on a friday night Holden gets nervous becuase his roomate is on a date with a childhood friend of his. He can't help himself but wonder what his roomate and Jane are doing. Getting agitated by that and his dormatory roomate he decides to go to New York Manhatten for the weekend. Once on the train he meets a lady, a mother of a classmate. He despises the student, but he can't help himself but to lie to her. Once off the train he goes to a motel and watches people from his widow. Next, he calls a lady that is said to be "easy". He tries to meet up with her that night, but she refuses and asks if he'd like to meet tomorrow. He doesn't want to so he hangs up. Now bored he decides to go down the the motels bar to get a drink, but the waiter finds out that he's not of age and doesn't serve him anything. While sitting at the bar he meets three ladies in their thirties. He flirts with them for awhile, then they make fun of his age and leave him. Stuck with all of the tabs. Once he leaves he starts to think about Jane and about their summer together. So, he decides to leave and take a cab to a jazz club where he runs into his older brothers ex girlfriend. She invites him to sit with her and her date, but he refuses by making up the excuse of having to meet someone and leaves to walk back to his motel. Once back to the motel he gets an offer of a hooker from the elevator attendent. He agrees and awhile later a girl named Sunny apears at his door. He lets her in but he doesn't want to sleep with her, so he pays her and before she leaves she demands five more dollars. Holden says no and the elavator attendent punches him and takes five dollars from his wallet. The next morning he decides to call up a past girlfriend, Sally. They decide to meet up for a broadway showing. While waiting for the date, Holden goofs off and tries to call Jane but her mother answers so he hangs up. When he does meet up with Sally he gets annoyed becuase she keeps talking to another boy at the show. He offers to take her the ice rink, but they both suck and decide to get a table. In a deep converstion about school Holden asks Sally to run away with him, but she Refuses and he replies iwth "pain in the ass". Not accepting his apology, she leaves. Later that night, drunk, Holden calls Sally and just rambles about meaningless things. Later, he sneaks into his apartment and sees his sister. He has to admit that he's been kicked out of school, and she's angry. He tells her that he wants to be "the catcher and the rye" a person who catches children as they fall off of clifs, and pheobe tell him that he's crazy and he's confused the poem. Once leaving he calls a former english teacher. He goes to his apartment, and his teacher tries to talk to him about his future, but HOlden is sleepy and falls asleep on the couch. He awakes to the teacher stroking his head, thinking the teacher is homosexual he leaves quickly and goes and sleeps on a bench. He decides he's not going back home and sends a note to Pheobe telling her so and to meethim for lunch, she comes and wants to leave with him. But, he says no and she gets upset, and follows him around. The book ends with him watching her on the ride, and telling us that he's not going to go any further withthe story.

This book was an interesting mixtures of emotions, i enjoyed it more than I thought i would in the begining. I think I might look into more books by this authur in the future.(less)

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Mar 03, 2007

Şahan Yatarkalkmaz rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769177)

bookshelves: lacerations

Read in April, 2002

I did not read this book once or twice. I read it whenever I could. Tens of times. Sometimes I had to hold my breath to finish it. It was a book to remind.
One may think that I was influenced by that average Mel Gibson movie Conspiracy Theory and "the assassin of Kennedy had a copy of Catcher in the Rye in his pocket" legend, but it was not so. However it is true that I found myself reading the book after I watched the film. But the reason I repeated reading it, is nothing to with...more

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Aug 31, 2008

Sylvia rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769177)

bookshelves: fiction

Read in September, 2008

Seperti yang disebutkan si dukun Erie, bahwa buku ini banyak dibaca penjahat, ternyata memang buku ini pernah dibaca oleh Mark Chapman, pembunuh John Lennon. Bahkan si Chapman sempat meminta tanda tangan Lennon di pagi hari sebelum dia membunuhnya! Giling.. ni orang emang dah sakit jiwa, bukan karena buku ini. Buku ini juga masuk dalam Banned books list dari American Library Association.

Holden Caulfield, seorang remaja yang sedang mencari jati diri, di 'depak' lagi dari sekolahnya. S...more

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Mar 18, 2008

Sofia rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769177)

Title: The Catcher in the Rye Number of Pages: 277
Publisher: Little,Brown Company,United States and
Cost: $11.19
ISBN 0-316-76953-3

Book Review Final Draft
Phonies, Phonies, Phonies! If you are a person who hates everyone who thinks they are better than you, who hates the world and thinks their life is a tragedy, well this...more