The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Catcher in the Rye
Book Review: A Book Review. It Really Is.
Summary: 3 Stars
What would you do before you had to confront your parents after just getting expelled from yet another school? The Catcher in the Rye, by Jerome David Salinger, is a book about a teenage 16-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who has a problem staying in this all-boys prep school called Pency but then gets exempted from the school. Now he must confront his parents. Instead of deciding to face them with his failure, he decides to: take an early vacation, wander around the streets of New York City, and come into contact with some interesting characters.The majority of the novel takes place in New York City during post-war America which is in the early 1950's. The start of the novel takes place at Pency prep school. When Caulfield leaves Pency, he goes to various places in New York City, some of which are pretty popular. Areas of New York are very much like ghettos. An example description from the book would be, "The whole lobby was empty. It smelled like fifty million dead cigars. It really did." The journey begins just a week before Holden's Christmas break. But the real setting doesn't come till you read to the end. This is where the book's popularity comes from.
The narrator here is Holden Caulfield, the main character, who is an egomaniac because he thinks too highly of himself as not being "phony" and the only genuine person in mankind. As the story goes on he meets these strange, yet interesting characters he barely knows and criticizes them. He criticizes everyone! Not himself, just everyone else. He's a pretty smart guy, I'll give him that, but he's not so buff and tuff. Actually... he's very much a pacifist. His reputation is a bad one. He has flunked almost all his classes and has gotten the boot from three different boarding schools. The only class he's good at is English, and this is because he thinks all his other classes are "tedious" and "phony". Throughout the story Holden is pretty much the same because he can't let go the thought of his phony society around him. I like how he critiques all the common things done by the common people, it really makes me think.
The strange thing about this book is it doesn't have a real sticky plot. What I mean is... there is no plot! Hah! What kept me reading was the no plot idea and the unpredictability of where the book was headed. Holden is supposed to leave Pency and immediately tell his parents at home of his expulsion. He doesn't do it; instead, he wanders around in NYC. Then his favorite teacher betrays him. Mr. Spencer, one of the few teachers Caulfield liked, broke the news to his parents. This makes him even more terrified to go home so he travels incognito. Holden also gets into bizarre situations in the slums and hotels of New York. He feels like he can't speak to anyone except to his 10 year old sister named Phoebe, and he frequently recalls memories of his deceased little brother. At times, he even thinks about suicide or running away because of the "corrupt society around him".
Salinger has an interesting way of writing, and brings out the reputation of his characters at the start. As far as difficulty is concerned, all you need to know are words like: conceited, phony, inferior, and complex, and you're set. He repeats statements and opinions over and over again to show Holden's strong opposition or power of his thoughts. The moral here is that everyone must grow up, it is inevitable, and that you can't change the opinions of others as easily as you think you can. Don't expect that criticizing people will help you change the world to the way you want it to be, the world is set and no man can alter it. I'm a person who doesn't find most fiction books interesting enough to finish, but when I got a hold of this book, I had to keep reading to finish it. After you read this book you really have to think about it for a while and find a revelation on your own. This is the major part of the book, and you'll appreciate this book for it. The only word that can describe this book is... "interesting" and it really makes you think to make you say out loud, "Wow!" Although there are some vulgar word usages here and there, I'd recommend this book to anyone, especially teenagers who can really relate.
Book Review: A Book Review. It Really Is.
Summary: 3 Stars
What would you do before you had to confront your parents after just getting expelled from yet another school? The Catcher in the Rye, by Jerome David Salinger, is a book about a teenage 16-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who has a problem staying in this all-boys prep school called Pency but then gets exempted from the school. Now he must confront his parents. Instead of deciding to face them with his failure, he decides to: take an early vacation, wander around the streets of New York City, and come into contact with some interesting characters.The majority of the novel takes place in New York City during post-war America which is in the early 1950's. The start of the novel takes place at Pency prep school. When Caulfield leaves Pency, he goes to various places in New York City, some of which are pretty popular. Areas of New York are very much like ghettos. An example description from the book would be, "The whole lobby was empty. It smelled like fifty million dead cigars. It really did." The journey begins just a week before Holden's Christmas break. But the real setting doesn't come till you read to the end. This is where the book's popularity comes from.
The narrator here is Holden Caulfield, the main character, who is an egomaniac because he thinks too highly of himself as not being "phony" and the only genuine person in mankind. As the story goes on he meets these strange, yet interesting characters he barely knows and criticizes them. He criticizes everyone! Not himself, just everyone else. He's a pretty smart guy, I'll give him that, but he's not so buff and tuff. Actually... he's very much a pacifist. His reputation is a bad one. He has flunked almost all his classes and has gotten the boot from three different boarding schools. The only class he's good at is English, and this is because he thinks all his other classes are "tedious" and "phony". Throughout the story Holden is pretty much the same because he can't let go the thought of his phony society around him. I like how he critiques all the common things done by the common people, it really makes me think.
The strange thing about this book is it doesn't have a real sticky plot. What I mean is... there is no plot! Hah! What kept me reading was the no plot idea and the unpredictability of where the book was headed. Holden is supposed to leave Pency and immediately tell his parents at home of his expulsion. He doesn't do it; instead, he wanders around in NYC. Then his favorite teacher betrays him. Mr. Spencer, one of the few teachers Caulfield liked, broke the news to his parents. This makes him even more terrified to go home so he travels incognito. Holden also gets into bizarre situations in the slums and hotels of New York. He feels like he can't speak to anyone except to his 10 year old sister named Phoebe, and he frequently recalls memories of his deceased little brother. At times, he even thinks about suicide or running away because of the "corrupt society around him".
Salinger has an interesting way of writing, and brings out the reputation of his characters at the start. As far as difficulty is concerned, all you need to know are words like: conceited, phony, inferior, and complex, and you're set. He repeats statements and opinions over and over again to show Holden's strong opposition or power of his thoughts. The moral here is that everyone must grow up, it is inevitable, and that you can't change the opinions of others as easily as you think you can. Don't expect that criticizing people will help you change the world to the way you want it to be, the world is set and no man can alter it. I'm a person who doesn't find most fiction books interesting enough to finish, but when I got a hold of this book, I had to keep reading to finish it. After you read this book you really have to think about it for a while and find a revelation on your own. This is the major part of the book, and you'll appreciate this book for it. The only word that can describe this book is... "interesting" and it really makes you think to make you say out loud, "Wow!" Although there are some vulgar word usages here and there, I'd recommend this book to anyone, especially teenagers who can really relate.
Book Review: A Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE has a simple-enough presence: Take a character and let him tell his story. That's exactly what J.D Sallinger did with his character Holden Caulfield.
To break it down simply enough, Holden is sixteen-years-old. He's also stuck in a very bad situation. He's at a fancy private school that he absolutely hates. He's failing, so much so that he's about to get kicked out. So, before he gets kicked out, he decides to leave and take a `break' from everything that's been happening to his life.
After leaving the school, he begins his `break' by reconnecting with some old memories. He rents a hotel room and reflects on the people he's known, particular some past girlfriends and a friend from another school.
The thing that makes THE CATCHER IN THE RYE different from most books about teenagers is that Holden isn't a stereotype. We quickly pick this up early in the novel, when we learn that Holden has A LOT to say about his situation. His characterization is only further proven when he decides to buy a `night' with a girl. It turns out that Holden's not into that; he simply wants someone to talk to. The fact that he isn't a stereotype is what makes him so interesting. But, you're probably wondering, if he isn't a stereotype, how can we relate to him? It's because Holden, like all other teenagers, has problems.
I can't say a whole lot more about the book without giving it away. It's fairly short--the mass market paperback being only 214 pages--but it makes for a quick read. I found myself reading it slower though. It's easier to reflect on a book like THE CATCHER IN THE RYE if read in pieces, not all at once.
The main moral of the book is that teenagers have it hard, regardless of who they are and where they might be. They've all got problems, they've all got fears, hopes and dreams. There's no escaping what's happening when you're a teenager, and Sallinger captured that perfectly.
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is a book EVERYONE should read.
Book Review: A Classic Indeed...
Summary: 5 Stars
The Catcher in the Rye should be a must-read when in High School. I read this book in school and I loved it! No, I was not an emo or gothic type girl.Actually I was a normal, popular and well loved girl =) I think one reason this book appeals to teen so much is that when you are a teen you tend to be a little 'lost' and scared to enter the adult world. Enter Holden Caufield.
I have four sons and one is entering high school next year. I hope this book will be read while he is in school. I am not sure with all of the hoopla over this book that it will be available for 'inschool' reading however, he can always read it at home.
Too all the people who see 'evil' in everything they see or touch this is not the book for you! I am a Christian woman and I still think teens can get something out of this book. Like it or not alot of teens need to know they are not alone in their sometime' whacky mind' LOL.
If people are reading this book to get something out of it, you are in the wrong dept. go to self-help section. Take this book for what it is, a pure literary success. Nothing more, nothing less.
Book Review: A Classic Snooze-Fest
Summary: 1 Stars
Okay, unless you live in a cave you've heard of Catcher in the Rye. Most likely it was mentioned in hushed tones usually reserved for Events of Monumentous Occasion and Venerable Fixtures of American Popular Culture.
During my senior year in High School (1985) my English class was assigned to read this book (as every English class has been required to do since the Truman Administration). I "opted out" as it were. Years later I found a copy of this Hallowed Work for 25¢ in a thrift shop and thought I'd see what I'd missed waaaay back when. Turns out, I really was better off ditching school and going to Disneyland.
Sorry folks but this is a textbook example of Much Adoo About Nothing. The truly ironic part is that most folks who gush about Catcher in the Rye would be excatly the kind of people Holden refers to as "phonies".
There seems to be an obligation to love this book in order to consider yourself enlightened or progressive. I can see why this act plays big on both coasts.
This was the book that ushered in the angst-ridden teenager as anti-hero that survives to this day in the form of tone-deaf Emo and Nu-Metal bands.
How the reader is supposed to have any empathy for a trust fund baby with a chip on his should escapes me. Maybe it's becuase I was not rich and angst-ridden as a teen.
The book itself is a tedious, read. Dull, long-winded and repetitive Caufield rambles aimlessly through what is supposed to be a couple of days but reads like 10 years. All the characters are forgettable and by the end of the book you're rooting for Holden to get run over by a taxi.
This emperor, truly, wears no clothes.