The Catcher in the Rye in Breaking The Code To The Catcher In The Rye

Jun 14, 2021 ella rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, i-own-a-physical-copy, cried, placed-in-nyc, classic-fiction, i-have-mama-and-papas-copy, salinger, 1900-to-1949, 1950-to-1999, used-mama-and-papas-copy

i feel like i have said this a hundred times in my life, but i've never put it here. i believe that everyone who dislikes holden is perceiving him incorrectly. they think he is nothing but a cynical kid, when really he is not that at all. holden loves the world more than every other character in the story, and honestly probably more than 80% of people alive. he loves the world so deeply. this book tells the story of what it is like to be young and truly, madly in love with the world. so in love i feel like i have said this a hundred times in my life, but i've never put it here. i believe that everyone who dislikes holden is perceiving him incorrectly. they think he is nothing but a cynical kid, when really he is not that at all. holden loves the world more than every other character in the story, and honestly probably more than 80% of people alive. he loves the world so deeply. this book tells the story of what it is like to be young and truly, madly in love with the world. so in love with the world that you don't even know it. but what's the difference if one knows it or not? people who believe they are truly in love with the world are often the ones who love the idea of the world much better. phonies, one might say.....

and since i'm already dishing out a very disagreeable thought on here, i might as well drop some other thoughts of mine here, too.

phoebe caulfield is my favorite literary character of all time. there is nobody currently on earth who makes me cry of joy more immediately than phoebe. i love her to death. "why has south eastern alaska so many caning factories? because theres so much salmon." i bet she looked so beautiful in her blue coat on that carousel in the rain. phoebe is an embodiment of my hope for the human race. she is to me the representation of all things pure, courageous, silly, and above all, loving.

one of the more famous quotes in catcher, the one about wishing you could have a conversation with an author whenever you wanted after reading a book that really knocks you out, i used to not feel that way at all about salinger, even though he was (and still is) my favorite author. but now i realize i was just thinking about it all wrong. i would definitely want to be good buddies with salinger, but i don't think i would want to talk to him so much, and definitely not about anything of consequence, such as his writing (which is what i assume most people would want to talk about with their terrific chosen author). i would only want to sit in silence with him. we would read quietly or play an intense board game, but we wouldn't talk. if we talked it would be about silly things. he and i would get along quite well, i'm certain of it.

words could never ever EVER describe how much this book means to me, how much it shaped and changed my life, how much it comforted me. how it made me feel less alien about loving the world in the same way that holden does. i felt so alone before this, so misunderstood. and i don't mean that in the cliche "i'm so cynical i hate everything everything depresses me i want to move away from everyone" misunderstood way. i mean it in the "i'm in love with this person that isn't particularly beautiful because they do small silly things like keeping their kings in the back row for no good reason" misunderstood way that nearly every reader of this book (even the ones who love holden) seem to completely miss. i will not mention how many times i have read this book, because people might think that i'm insane. but really it just means a whole lot to me. i love this book and i love j.d. salinger, the greatest writer i've ever known. out of all of the people i have encountered in my life, from in-person and online interactions, to perfect actor and actress performances, to literature where the author's heart is translated onto paper, i believe that salinger is the person who thinks and perceives things most like me in the whole world. and really i just wish i was a terribly good friend of his.

Review from 2021:
Best book on earth ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Dec 15, 2022 Jazzy Lemon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-authors, classics

A first person story of youth, loneliness, and isolation

4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 22, 2022 ❋ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

"You know what I'd like to be?" I said. "You know what I'd like to be? I mean if I had my goddam choice?"

"What? Stop swearing."

"You know that song 'If a body catch a body comin' through the rye'? I'd like--"

"It's 'If a body meet a body coming through the rye'!" old Phoebe said. "It's a poem. By Robert Burns."

"I know it's a poem by Robert Burns."

She was right, though. It is "If a body meet a body coming through the rye." I didn't know it then, though.

"I thought it was 'If a body catch a body,'" I ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 25, 2024 Mike Gonzalez rated it it was amazing

23

Like · see review

Sep 13, 2023 regina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: clásicos, favoritos

Me dejas sin habla, Holden, en verdad
cómo lo disfruté, cómo reí y cómo me conmoví. un amigo cercano, sincero, que busca autenticidad en este falso mundo
“nunca cuenten nada a nadie. si lo hacen, empezarán a echar de menos a todo el mundo”
y yo que ya te echo de menos a ti, Holden

Like · see review