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The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
by J.D. Salinger
Matt's review
Jul 12, 09
Recommended for:
everyone but phonies and athletic bastards
Read in July, 2009
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.
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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Ha ha! Thanks Montambo, that line had already slipped my mind. So many funny lines in this book.My copy is one of the boring black and white covers (pictured above, I just learned about the whole "switching editions" thing...) that I have had since 1991. I really want to spring for this edition at some point:
This may be some of my favorite cover art ever, right alongside The Great Gatsby's Francis Cugat painting.
Matt, I love your review! I love when Holden tells old Stradlater to give Mrs. Schmidt the time while he is on his way to the can.
OMFG Tambo, that's amazing! I hope your house doesn't get robbed now that you've posted it -- David doesn't have your address, does he?
He sure does, but he's out of astronaut diapers, so I don't think he's on his way, or anything.
50 cents!
50 cents!
'Complete and Unabridged'. Are there abridged versions of The Catcher in the Rye out there? I bet Walmart sells neutered books along with their edited CDs. Hmmm. I have a perverse desire to read an abridged Catcher now. This review is awesome. I laughed out loud like 5 times and once more when I read Montambo's ping pong line.
That cover is awesome, Montambo. I don't know the exact time period that this trend spanned, but I like how they would put a semi-lurid blurb on the front cover in an ugly rectangle...Thanks Michelle and Bram!
I can't believe wal-mart hasn't done this already. I can just imagine Holden telling Sally that she is "a pain in his apple" and getting mad when he sees "flip chew" written on the wall...*cringe*
fuck you.It's hard to talk about this book and not sound angsty, so just look past it: this book is very misunderstood. I know it's used as eternal fuel for the sorrows of teen-agers everywhere. I used it myself once. But in the end, by the end of the novel, it's more hope than fragility, more about righting the world than grumbling at wrongs, although there's plenty of that, too. Kudos for reading a book many people love at 16, shrug at 18, and burn at 21, with no real clue what they're doing.
There's always one in every crowd, huh Caleb???Something that I completely missed when I first read this novel was the death of Holden's brother. The event is scarcely mentioned, but I think the underlying story is that Holden is trying to work through that grief and is simulataneously in denial and also blaming himself for whatever happened and many readers take the angst as being only a symptom of disaffected youth. Still baking this thought in my head, so it may not be done yet.
tadpole wrote: "There's always one in every crowd, huh Caleb???Something that I completely missed when I first read this novel was the death of Holden's brother. The event is scarcely mentioned, but I think th..."
I agree, that much of the angst in the novel is all about Seymour, but the end of the novel is all about the sister, how she's Holden's new hope, his successor. The title of the novel is one of the best parts, in my opinion. Holden mentions that he would like to just sit in a Rye field and try to catch children who are about to wander over a cliff. I think this is how he feels about Seymour, what Seymour did for him. And by the end of the novel, I think he feels like he can do/is doing this for his little sister, and in some strange way, retaining a part of his innocence through protecting her's. Brilliant.
I've heard tale that Salinger has continued to writer about the Caufields. I don't know if it's true or not, but I know many a literary enthusiast who is eagerly awaiting that man's death.
The rumor is (spread by ex-wife or kids?) that he has drawers full of manuscripts but that they can only be published 50 years after his death. I may just make it.
Caleb: Yes, very good thoughts here. Even though this review is written more or less as a novelty I was also very moved by his thoughts concerning the golden ring on the carousel and had to sneak it in.Bram: That's an interesting rumor. I'm just curious if all of these eccentric years has had a negative effect on his writing? (I would assume that it has.)
Yeah, I became obsessed with Salinger about a year ago and tried to find out everything I could about any potential future material. I think his daughter made the claim that I mentioned above, but I may be misremembering. Anyone else know?
Yes, Bram, that rumor has been floating around for quite a while (RE: the house full of unpublished manuscripts, most of them, purportedly, about the Glass family). Maybe a few of the crackpot biographies have intimated this. But -- even if it were true -- I suspect that his mental state throughout these intervening may not have been conducive to great literature. (I think there was already a minor but perceptible step toward bonkers in "Seymour: An Introduction.") Whatever the case, I hope that nothing that comes out of his estate after his death tarnishes his legacy. Not that I'm comparing apples to apples here, but I don't want a Jar-Jar Binks Glass, y'know?
Incidentally, one of the absolute worst books I have ever read was a Salinger biography...
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51...
Just horrible! Full of (admitted) speculation, juvenile writing, and quotes from people with axes to grind. (This one also alleged that Salinger drinks his own urine, as I recall.)
Incidentally, one of the absolute worst books I have ever read was a Salinger biography...
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51...
Just horrible! Full of (admitted) speculation, juvenile writing, and quotes from people with axes to grind. (This one also alleged that Salinger drinks his own urine, as I recall.)
Yeah, I agree that he was probably already losing it by the mid-60s. And I think if he had done something he knew was of really high quality, he would have published it. But I'm still hopeful. If that 50 year bullshit is true though, I think we should make a pact to do whatever's necessary to unearth (steal) those frail, yellowing 'scripts once he passes on. Or now. How tight is his security up there?
hey tadpole! loved your review!!!! i voted for it! read my review for HITCHHIKER'S and all the posts following.... about 200! let me know what you think!i had the cover that was all reddish. i am so jealous of the picture posted on here. i love it. love to find one like it. a friend of mine gave me a copy of THE HILLS OF AFRICA, a paperback that was 50cents. i imagine it's from the same era. anyway, i ended up giving my son my paperback copy. i had read it when i was 17,and loved it. laugh out loud. then,,,,,, the dread,of what if i reread it and hate it!!???
i bought the hardback copy after rereading my paperback, basically twice. we decided to do it for bookclub. i had forgotten all the language was in it,and again, i am laughing. then i read it out loud to my sons who were both early teens. (it was basically the last book they "let" me read aloud to them.) all three of us were giggling. found out , even in my 40's it was still a great book!
After spending all morning wading through academic nonsense, I thought I'd see what you were up to on here. This review made my day. Hilarious.
I have the rainbow covers for both CITR and F&Z. I like the conformity but I HATE white covers. They end up covered in black fingerprints and I'm a person who washes their hands a lot.As others have said, maybe Salinger will end up being a reverse-Kafka and we'll WANT to burn the stuff that gets published after his death.
Anyways, I loved this review. You hit the voice square-on. :)
I read a lot of the Catcher reviews when I re-read it recently and you are wrong, T, most people haven't said anything useful or interesting or funny or wise or smart in their reviews. (Please apply above adjectives to your own, by the way).
Bellsy and Caris are PHONIES!!! (j/k...)Thanks everybody! Those same adjectives must be applied many times over to your own review of this book, Elizabeth.
Aaww. I loved this review. It was so cute - in the most intellectual way possible, obviously. I swear, I fell in love.
That's the thing about funny book reviewers. You almost fall half in love with them, and then you don't know where the hell you are.
I loved your review, Tadpole. Also really enjoyed the book. I never read it as a teen, read it now in my 40's, as the mother of a teen. And I will recommend it to him, too!
I re-read Catcher in the Rye a couple yeas ago for the third time (1966, 1992) and found it more relevant to me now than it was either of those times.
On the way home, I read some of it and luckily I got to that line where Old Spencer reads his term paper outloud and then looks at him like he just beat the hell out of him at ping pong or something. Hahahahahahaha!!!!! Every time I pick up this book, I want to drop my current book. I think I will have to re-read it, soon.