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A YOUNG man possessed of a young man’s vigor and callowness and an old man’s jaundiced eye rip-snorts his way though this raucous novel and by turns delights, frightens, shocks you and leaves you close to the tears into which he himself bursts as the climax to his mad escapade. J.D. Salinger Holden Caulfield is his name. Pencey has just followed the sensible example of several other prep schools and expelled him, for out of five courses he flunked four. Pencey was “lousy,” in his opinion; his roommate Stradtlater, his neighbor Ackley who cuts his toenails all over the place, his teachers, his courses were lousy and phony, too. His parents have heard the news, but expect him on Wednesday; he decides to go three days early and have himself a time in New York. He’s 16, but it’s not the popular, romantic “sweet 16.” Here’s a boy who likes to tell whopping big lies just for the deviltry of it; who likes to snarl and snap; who likes to suppose, though he admits he doesn’t have the family brains, that he’s smart. But for all the grown-up swagger on the surface, he is still 16 inside. He thinks he’s fairly sexy, yet every time a girl has said, “stop,” he has stopped, and so far they’ve all said it. He has a little sister Phoebe, skinny but “nice skinny,” whom he longs to see again. He mourns his dead brother Allie. He is generous. He imagines himself catching all the people coming the rye and saving them from falling off a cliff. He tells the story himself; tough and tender, frown and smile, bitter and sweet. It’s a sort of lost week end; it’s a boy who can’t go home again; he belongs to a lost generation and lives in a world he never made. It reminds us of significant conclusions reached by other writers in our time. But besides that, and despite your hoots of laughter at Holden’s indomitable speech, this is in essence the tragic story of a problem child, unless indeed it’s an indictment of a problem world. Month in, month out, novels don’t come much better.Read full review
There are books which I read and think that the book was fine, a good read but it is not among my top favorites or top reads, which comprises of around 60 odd titles. Then, there are some which I like while reading and the book adds a lot to me and the way I think. It may not look evident from my behavior but it opens some new compartment in my conscience. Then, there are books which I wish I had not taken up reading. However, some books do leave an impact, but it is tough to categorize it immediately. As the time moves on, I put them in one of my imaginary shelves. This book is one such example. It is definitely not a fast read, with page turning enthusiasm that someone like Orwell, Puzo or Brown gave me. It is a slow, complex book with simple story. I usually take up a book when I see that a lot of people have read it and hence, it must be good, or when I see it on a list of books of some genre that I like. But it was different. I saw it once among the top five contemporary English novels of the century and I thought that I must give it a try sometimes. I tried it once a couple of years back, but then I threw it away as I found it boring and slow. It still was when I read it two weeks back. But then, I had this feeling that the book might offer me something that I had not anticipated before and I gave it a try, hoping to not end up being wrong. I wasn’t. Catcher in the Rye gives a lot to ask oneself. A high school kid, shamelessly criticizing everything around him is not a unique personality. It could be anyone of us, in fact he is us. I once had this feeling when I was younger that I was the best. Then, after seeing some people who fared better than me in some way or the other, I decided that I was amongst the best. But, somehow, that has changed and I no longer think in terms of good, bad, best or anything quantitative. You cannot judge people by numbers. You judge them by their actions. You judge them by their attitude. And those cannot be measured, not by any scale I know of. Holden is the confused protagonist in the story, who thinks everything around him is fraudulent (phony, as he puts it) and he must not stay amongst those people. I thought, in the beginning, that he is genuinely hurt by the society and his peers for high expectations, which turned out to be wrong because as the story went on, he started contradicting himself by hating those things too which were dear to him once. The book asks serious questions, the strongest one being that are we doing anything to improve ourselves? Are we doing anything to balance our lives between hating things we dislike and working with them because some things are needed to be done? Are we really listening to ourselves as to what we want or are we just flowing down the river to reach the next shore? We are just ignorant of things around us because knowing them will not comfort us. That is what we do. That is what Holden did not choose to do. What should we do really? That is the real question.Read full review
I read this book back in English 12, since then I've been meaning to purchase it (and I finally did!). This book is phenomenal on so many different levels. Holden Caulfield is such a complex character who raises a lot of good points regarding society throughout the entire novel. The story is extremely exciting to read for me personally as I can relate to both Holden and his feelings towards various opinions. I'm trying not to give too much away, just read the book if you haven't already and then read it again because it's just that great!
My 17 year old grand daughter asked for this book for her birthday, she is going to love it.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
i got the book for my wife she has it already but it was a small paper back and had some wear and tear on it.she loves the book and plans on reading it alot she'll plan on getting more books from this author in the near future.
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