The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - 3 Starts

[Jeremiah]

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3 out of 5 Starts
PBT Decathlon

This book had been on my To-Be-Read list for many years. Some how I made it through high school without ever reading it and since then it has resurfaced many times but never been the book I picked up to read. As part of my reading goals for 2018, I planned to read some of the books that had been on my TBR since I joined Goodreads. An additional challenge made it even more enticing as a February read.

The Positives of The Catcher in the Rye
Although The Catcher in the Rye was written approximately 16 years prior to The Outsiders the writing style of Salinger very much reminded me of the style of S.E. Hinton. The style being a mix of stream of consciousness with extremely well written descriptions. The mix of the two created an odd sensation when reading, but not necessarily a negative one. As I finished the book I was actually surprised at how much I could visualize the events in the book.

The other positive for me in reading this book was the use of time. Although the book takes place over just a few days, the pace of the book never seemed to drag nor was it overly compressed. Salinger's writing allowed you to believe that the events in the book really could happen in the time frame allotted.

The Negatives of The Catcher in the Rye
The single biggest detractor for me with this book was a simple question of "why am I reading this?" There was simply nothing about the book that stood our or made some lasting impression in my mind. I cannot shake the feeling that I must have missed something with this book. I have heard so many say that it is a book you should read at different stages of your life because it will mean something different at each point. Well, it meant nothing to me at this point so not sure how that would change in 20 years.

This book has been taught and highly praised for so many years and I simply could not figure out why. It's not that the writing was bad, I just could not figure out the point of the story.

Overall, I am glad to have finally read this book that has been on my TBR list for so long, but its not one that I would recommend others immediately read.

[Rachel N.]

I agree with you, especially the negative part. I read this for the first time last year and just didn't see what the point was or why the big fuss over it.

[Amy]

I get to reread this this year For freshman English. I wonder if I will feel the same reading it again 30 years later. I’m actually really excited to get to this.