This book is one of those books that every kid at age 15 should read. It may seem to have subjects that kids shouldn't be exposed to but let's not kid ourselves. Children these days just seem smarter and capable of more and more each day. If they are exposed to such adult topics as adult social interaction, violence, alcohol and broken homes in the world of superbly crafted literature it would do nothing but broaden their understanding of reality and the world around them a hundred times over. They are going to seek out or happen across these topics as the world is getting smaller and smaller so why not allow it under favorable conditions? This book represents a very meaninful moment in my childhood: a day that I grew up a little.

In the beginning, I admit I did not like Holden Caulfield. I felt I couldn't relate to him. After the first 15 chapters that changed. I realized that, boy oh boy, I am way too much like Holden Caulfield. So much that I almost want to post a list of how we are alike, but that is not the point of reviews and I doubt it would be interesting reading. There are few eye-opening moments in Catcher in the Rye. The line that most sticks in my head is this, " The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." I will be honest, lines don't really stick in my head and this one doesn't either, but its meaning does.
I can understand why this book is a classic. There is so much that I don't think I fully grasp everything yet; it is one of those books I think should be reread every so often. I wouldn't have read this book if not for Nerdfighters' Blurbing Book Club, so I thank author John Green for picking it.

I've read Catcher several times and though it doesn't stand out in my mind as a favorite novel, every time I read it I rediscover how much I enjoy it. I give Catcher five stars because Holden's character holds my interest until the very end. Salinger gives him a complexity that makes him neither saint nor sinner. The reader isn't necessarily going to like Holden, but he isn't someone you'd want to hate either. I think anyone who enjoys people-watching will find Catcher offers plenty to keep the reader entertained with its parade of characters and never dull rantings of Holden at his darkest time.

My god, probably the most boring, inconsequential book I ever read. Thank god it's a short one though. Spare yourself the trouble and read what wiki has to say about it, you won't take away anything else from this piece of ****. The book makes fun of "Phony" people, well, I say the "Phony" people are all those who recommend this book. They only do it so they don't feel so bad they were the only ones that read it, kind of like the emperor's clothes.

Having said that, I dare you to find a book that says "... and all", "...kills me" and "depressed" more times than this one.

Note:The reviewer is an EFL learner.
I've just finished reading "The Catcher in the Rye. I think it's both interesting and sad. I checked the book reviews for "Catcher in the Rye" on Amazon and was surprised to find that there were quite some people did not appreciate "Holden" at all and many of them asked him to "Grow up," or "Get a life!"
I like Holden, and I feel sympathy for him. I assume he had reasons to have become what he was like. Most of us had troubled mind with a lot of crazy notions going on when we were young. I mean, come on, when we were younger, hadn't we doubted all those "sit and listen" and wondered if it worth all the struggling being a decent adolescent? And I guess that is one thing "phony" of most adults. They think they know what is right for you. And they seem to accuse you of being immature or ungrateful when you do not follow their "guidance" or "assignmenth. Gratefulness and maturity and something like that are, in most cases, acquired and maybe learned. So I think it's just so true and real of Salingerfs portray of a sixteen Holden Caulfield, sad and angry.
The adult world/ real world was too complicated for Holden. There were a lot in the real world he did not understand. ---Why did Allie have to die? Why should he care about life? Why did Mr. Antonlini do it? And that was probably why Holden wanted to be nothing but gthe catcher in the ryeh. He liked children, they are not complicated and malicious and all. Holden found it easy to get along with them and understand them.
Why did Holden want so much to protect children? Why did he talk about sex yet dare not to try it? I have to say the revelation is in the book. Think about the immediate overreaction of Holden when he was woken up by Mr. Antonlinifs petting on his head. Salinger understated another chapter of Holdenfs life with "That kind of stufffs happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I canft stand it."

I thought this book was entertaining but I didn't get the sense it should have gained all the notoriety that it has. My thoughts when I finished it and put it down was that it must have been written during a period when few other great writes were being written and thus found it's way to the fore front.

Writes on similar subjects as far as finding one's way that I think far surpass this are Keep The Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell, Border Music by Robert James Waller and Damages by Bazhe...

It's entertaining and definitely a worthy read but I think the cult status it has achieved is based largely on it's name.

Which I agree is a fantastic title for a book...

I wouldn't give it less than a four but if you read the above books I mentioned and compare them in literary quality I think you will understand why...

The other books aren't so much about coming of age mind you as a teenager but they are about finding out who you are and this one in my opinion ranks behind all three that I mentioned although again, it is a good read...

Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

I've always adored this book- some complain that nothing really happens in the prose but the truth is this book is loaded with the type of symbolism that almost anyone can relate to. I read in high school (forced to in fact) and thought of it as fair but then when I came back to it as an adult, I found a lot more love. I think it works best when it is read as an adult looking back on life (rather than while it is happening to a person- which is why so many school kids don't like it). If you, like me, love this book and want to read something that manages to capture a bit of the magic here try Jason Rider's A Space Between.

This is true literature!

Although is book was written in 1951, but is still speak the hearth of typical teenager. Seventeenth or for anyone that whose feel they need to escape from their normal life and to go explore the wild side. Once this boy step into the wood; can he choices to stay or will he be able to find his way out without losing a part of him? I enjoyed he's journey very well.

"The Catcher In The Rye" had always been shorthanded to me as a classic "coming of age" book, involving teenage angst and alienation. (It is, perhaps, a "classic" in the sense that Britney Spears is a "star.") Having recently read the book for the first time, I discovered (regrettably, too late) that I had been misinformed. It is not at all about a young man coming of age, beset by archetypical teenage angst and alienation; it is about mental illness. I also suspect it is autobiographical, and so do not blame Mr. Salinger for the book's lamentable lack of any literary merit. I fear, rather, that in the writing of it he simply could not help himself.

I first read this book in the 9th grade. Hated the character so much I only got half way through the book and just BSed my way through the class. However, since it was a "classic" I decided I should pick it up and finish it. It turns out the character is just as annoying now as it was when I was 14. So of the reviewers have sad this novel shows "universal" problems, that some how I didn't experience. The character is really probably clinically depressed and lacks social skills. The character also rants about phonies, but he comes across as the phoniest person in the book. The character is neither endearing nor insightful into the human condition. Pretty much this book amounts to the most annoying, depressed, dull and whinny person you can imagine ranting for 200 pages. I came to hate the character so much I only continued reading hoping the character would commit die. The only reason to read this book is so you can say you read a "classic" no matter how undeserving of that title it is.

Like another reviewer said, I finally read this book because it's referred to often in other literature and movies. It really started to get on my nerves around chapter 3. I only kept reading because I wanted to give the book a chance and kept waiting for the part that (supposedly) makes this book so great. I was disappointed. This kid is so annoying! I did wonder if some of the people he was describing were simply parts of himself, such as the "digression" kid, and the "flits" he hated so much. Then I wondered if it would turn out to be a "Sunset Boulevard" type of story and he might actually be the kid that jumped out the window.

There were a couple of "aha" moments that helped me understand poor old Holden Caulfield a little better and where he was coming from, but nothing earth shattering. I just felt like shaking him and yelling, "Welcome to the real world!" At least at the end he ends up where he really needs to be. His sequel could be "One flew over the cuckoos nest".

At least I'm glad to finally check it off my "classics to read" list. Also, I'm glad I picked this book up at the library's basement sale for only 50cents. However, I still wonder what makes this a "classic". I can only attribute it to the timing of when the book was first published; teenage angst was not a popular subject in the 1940-50's. It was probably quite a novel point of view at the time.

Now I'm going to rent "Six degrees of separation" again and try to remember why it made me so curious about this book.

I first read this novel in 6th grade. I was enthralled then, and I've read it three times since, all at different periods of my life. I still love it. Holden is a character who faces a conflict that many of us do: how do we preserve innocence and purity in a world that seems to far removed from both? The answer is, of course, that we can't. Innocence and purity are transitory. They cannot last in the corrupted world in which we live.

Yes, the slang and the situations in the novel may be dated, but the overall human situation is one that will never be dated.

I usually don't say this, but I am hard pressed to understand how anyone cannot love this novel. I'm really surprised by some of the one-star reviews. I can't find one aspect of this novel that isn't great. To me, it is Salinger's masterpiece. Even if you read this book on a purely superficial level, you'll still be glad you did. Beyond some of the weighty issues it deals with, it is super entertaining.

Holden Caufield is possibly my favorite fictional character. Or should I say, he's the one I could most relate to. If you've ever been depressed and lonely, you can relate to Holden. If you're cynical, you can relate to Holden. Some would call him a bitter adolescent. Some would say he sees the world as it is. Whether or not you like this book will depend on your outlook on life, or at least your ability to appreciate an outlook you don't share.

The book is hilarious, as well.

if u want to read a huge knock off of "The Catcher In The Rye", then read "King Dork" by Frank Portman. Its really funny if you have read this book.

What can you say about a modern classic -- I guess I can only add that my perspective comes from reading this book firstly when I was 47. I missed it in my youth -- and it was never part of high-school reading class.

Putting it into historical perpective the prose were unique at their time. The slang and first person came at a time when Normam Mailer was also experimenting with dialogue. I must say that although the book sort of starts and goes nowhere, it is a very interesting tranche de vie of an early 50s angst ridden teenager, wrought with confusion. In that sense it is difficult to relate to .... not just for a fourty-seven-year old dude, but even in conjuring up my memories... I find it hard to relate in many areas.

I fear that although this slender volume has weathered the years well, it has a particular vocabulary that most teens would find hard to understand without a broad education (or lucky enough to have parents that watch only movies from the 40s). The kids jive, and talk in ways that we can only wish today. Would we were so lucky as to have teenage youth that had the mere problem of this troubled child.

Having said that, there are still people that we can relate to: from his jock roommate to his rather nauseating patrician friend -- we can all relate to the wish of being free of these people. The relationship with his sister is more interesting... he appears to go to her because she is a haven of sorts from the corrupted excesses of being a teenager.

Well, as I said, I enjoyed it... It did fill in a small hole in those modern classics which I have not read.... on to Franny and Zoey I guess...

God D....t, somebody finally has to have the courage to tell the truth. Old Roxanne wasted 3 hours of her life reading all about a kid that she just wanted to slap upside the head. I'm a mad woman; I really am.

If you're only going to read one classic American novel, this is the one. It is well written, lighthearted, even though the story does have its dismal moments; it is told in such a comical way it won't bring you down. I bought this book along with Grapes of Wrath, Mice and Men and Fahrenheit 451 when I was taking some time off from my English degree to have a baby and wanted to catch up with some readings of American Literature. I haven't been able to get through the other three yet, but this one I have already read twice.

I pay special interest to the voice the author gives to the narrator of the story, and JD Salinger gets an A+ for this. When I read the book, I totally feel like the woman on the train listening to this young boy tell his story, I really do.

This book has become my yearly end-of-school ritual. I have read it for four straight years, and it just keeps getting better each time. While I understand that many people find Holden Caulfield to be a pain in the [...], the thing is, he is really just a kid, and he's just growing up. Try to go spend time with a teenager for a day (yes, I am one of them, but that doesn't matter) and you'll realize just how accurate Caulfield is. Teenagers are annoying! But once you realize that Caulfield is just growing up, you understand what this book does.
This has been pretty inarticulate, but essentially, this Book is absolutely amazing and should be read by all, although the forced study of it has turned many off...it should simply be picked up some day and gone through, as happened to me, and then you'll understand just how fabulous it is.

Regardless of the thousands of people that loved this book, I extremely disliked it. Throughout the book, I feel that Holden is exceptionally annoying, spoiled, and hypocritical. He calls everyone and everything "phony", yet lies and puts on false covers himself at every turn, never noticing the blatant contradiction. He rejects anyone and anything who tries to help him, and seems bent on self-destruction.

Now, you may say that said things are the beauty of the book, the nature of teenagers. As a fifteen year old, I completely disagree. If I were ever to behave remotely close to how Holden does, I would order myself hung, burned, and buried.

The style of writing is frustrating and repetitive, the vocabulary is pathetic and, again, repetitive, and the non-existent plot is all over the place. The only thing this book has on its side is that it is a fantastic character depiction, I just find that this particular depiction is completely false and should not merit the attention that it has received. I can honestly say that I cannot wait until I have taken my exam over this book, so I can hurry up and wipe it from my brain.

I read this book because it is so often talked about in literature circles and is on most of the top 100 novels lists available. Unfortunately, I was utterly annoyed by the book. The character, Holden Caulfield is exceedingly intolerable, especially considering the book was written in his first-person perspective. While I understand that the book is primarily dealing with teenage angst, the entire point seems to be lost behind the character of Holden who at the same time is supposed to epitomize this "angst". His entire character, his figures of speech, and his tone of voice were all very hard to deal with as a reader. I constantly found myself wanting to give up on the book. Even the last few chapters, particularly that of his story of Mr Antolini (who seemed ironically to be the single likable character), which were even slightly acceptable did not make the book worth its entirety. At the last page I found myself saying, "What the hell?" I almost feel stupider for having read it. The greatest benefit in reading this book was the ability to check it off my list.

You have to admit that it's an original.
There's no surprise why this is considered a classic. It's the voice of a quiet mass. Who hasn't missed their childhood? Who hasn't gone through that cynical phase? Even if you can't relate, you can appreciate it for giving you a different perspective on life and growing up.

I had never read this book in high school. I kept seeing it on lists of "great books", so I decided to read it. I was immediately drawn into the character and what was happening with him. After a short time, however, he starts becoming repetitive and annoying. His vocabulary is liberally salted with the words "crazy", "phony" and "goddam"; and he is continually critical of and hateful towards everyone around him. As the book continued, however, I realized that he was suffering from depression and was reaching out to those around him, however ineptly. He was still annoying, but I felt more compassion toward him and wanted to find out what was going to happen. After finishing the book, I put it down and thought "Huh". I went online and read some interpretation and explanation. It was definitely thought provoking. I can't say that this was one of my favorite reads, but what it says is important. The WAY it is said can be annoying, but perhaps that's necessary - an immature, depressed person may be exactly that. It was definitely worthwhile.

All I can say is wow, there's two hours of my life I will never get back. I was assigned to read this book in high school and everyone in my class hated this book. I've read most of the classics and loved them all but this was just a horribly pointless book. Holden is basically a rich emo kid stuck in 1945. All he did was roam around New York city, talking to stupid people, tried and horribly failed at picking up chicks, got drunk, smoked and then crashed at a closeted homosexual's apartment, because he was too afraid to tell Mommy and Daddy he had been expelled for the 3rd or 4th time. I seriously wanted to rip this book up and throw it in the trash, if it hadn't been a school assigned book. What was with his constant crying? I half expected him to be cutting his wrists and writing a suicide note. He should be on Gossip Girl, not making teens read about his poor rich life.

I remembered how much I enjoyed this book when I read it 60 years ago. At this reading, though, I found that I grew tired of Caulfield's spoiled immaturity. I am less able to put up with his antics. Salinger's writing is still terrific, however.

I first encountered Holden Caulfield in a high school English class. My teacher allowed me to read Salinger's novel, which she kept in a locked bookcase. What is even more surprising than the fact that my teacher was a Catholic nun, was her encouragement to read The Catcher in the Rye at a time when other U.S. high school teachers were being fired or forced to resign for assigning the book. Much like Holden Caulfield, I was a brooding adolescent at the time, and after finishing the novel, I told my teacher I could relate. From hindsight, I should have thanked her for sparking my lifelong passion in reading books, and for teaching me to question all forms of censorship.

Salinger's 1951 novel has the distinction of being the most frequently censored book in U.S. history, which is perhaps reason enough to read it. Using the first-person narrative, it tells the simple story of sixteen-year-old Holden's experiences in New York City following his expulsion from an elite college preparatory school, Pencey Prep. He finds himself at odds with the "phoniness" of world. "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book," Salinger reportedly stated in a 1953 interview. "It was a great relief telling people about it." Holden Caulfield has become synonymous with teenage rebellion and defiance, and as a result, Catcher in the Rye has become an adolescent cult classic.

"If you really want to hear about it," Holden begins his story, "the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." Catcher then chronicles two days in the life of Holden Caulfield following his expulsion from Pencey Prep. He decides to return to his family's home to secretly visit his younger sister, Phoebe, one last time before leaving New York City and traveling west. We learn that Holden is haunted by the death of his younger brother, Allie, who died of leukemia when Holden was thirteen. Phoebe packs her suitcase, determined to leave with Holden. He refuses, she cries and then refuses to speak. They silently walk together to the zoo, where Phoebe starts talking to Holden again, but only after he promises to abandon his plans to run away. Holden then buys Phoebe a carousel ticket, and just watching his sister ride the carousel infuses Holden's life with new meaning (along with the desire to protect her) and tears of bittersweet happiness. Yes, there is liberal dose of teenage profanity, smoking, drinking and sexuality in Catcher in the Rye, but underneath the novel's coarse narrative lies an adolescent heart of gold. Highly recommended.

G. Merritt

At first I looked forward to reading Salinger's Catcher in the Rye - after all, it is a classic, right? I wanted to like the book; really, I did. But I couldn't.

J.D Salinger begins his novel from the perspective of Holden Caulfield, a teenage boy who talks of how he ends up in his current position in a rest home for therapy. Holden speaks to readers directly as he recounts the events that lead up to his being sent away. I expected the tale of some horrific event to unfold, instead I was informed of Holden's expulsion from school, his dilemma of having to tell his parents, and some things that happen in between. Nothing really happens.

The book is written like a drab, repetitive rant and gets annoying fast. Upon completing the novel, I felt as if I had read an entirely different novel from the Catcher in the Rye that everyone seems to rave on and on about. Maybe it's just lost some of its flair with age; or perhaps, it's just gotten too overrated.

This is an intriguing book in that it doesn't reveal itself fully until the end. The way that Holden Caufield addresses you the reader with the first-person conversational narrative is an intriguing way to tell and story and it took me a while to get used to it. He speaks in a very colloquial manner and you can almost hear that New York accent in his speech.

Holden Caufield tells his story from the night that he was kicked out of his school Pency Prep. The story takes place over the course of three days but it brings the reader through an immense psychological journey. Holden is constantly annoyed by the "phonies" around him and is adrift in his life. But at the same time he has a certain attachment to the people around him.

He leaves his school when he learns he is kicked out and spends the hours of the next two nights and two days in New York trying to sort things out. Along the way he meets strangers in two nuns, a pimp (and his prostitute) and kids at the museum, old friends from schools that he's gone to, his sister and an old professor. He is appalled at what he sees in humanity and adrift. The story is his struggle to find his direction.

The story builds to a moving conclusion and I was surprised at how much I like it at the end. It is a very quick read but deep enough that it will take more than once to take it all in.

This is a horrid "novel," and I have no idea why it's acclaimed as a great piece of work. Although the idea of "coming of age" can be treated with skill and grace, this book fails to do so. I'll tell you why: the writing is awful. This isn't skillful writing, this is ranting. Reading the book was absolutely painful. It was cliche after cliche, and I wanted to run screaming away from the book and into the arms of Shakespeare, Pope, Dryden - just to feel like the English language hasn't entirely deteriorated. In the scope of things, this novel does not deserve to be taught in schools.

If you would like to read a WELL-WRITTEN, worthwhile, complex, poignant piece of writing about "coming of age," please read "The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce. Please.

Salinger's masterpiece was the catalyst for my first deep friendship ... as a freshman in college in 1957. How reassuring that the wonderful cover design continues to grace this unforgettable and inspired piece of writing. I recommend Nine Stories for another taste of Salinger's creative brilliance.

Reading this book I understand that it has been consdidered as one of the greatest books of all time.
The story is bascially about a young troubled boy named Holden Caufield. He is angry at the world while he is trying to deal with the death of his brother.
When he begins the story he had just gotten kicked out of the school for the third time. He gets so angry with his roomates or as he calls them phonies.
I believe that the theme of the story is to not runaway from your problems but face them.
The best thing about this book is how the author wrote it. Instead of writing the normal way, he writes what he thinks.

I totally recommened this book. I love this book!

When I read this as a high school sophomore--on my own, no less, not assigned--I thought it was a pretty good tale of a young man like myself. Holden liked to hang with his buddies, smoke and drink, had a marvelous opinion of himself while being viciously disdainful of everyone else, and he was smart, too. He was just like me.

Coming back to this American classic close to thirty years later, my perspective has changed quite a bit. I'm no longer a young man, and Holden is not the cool dude I once recognized. In fact, he's immature, judgmental, dishonest, wasteful, unappreciative and more than anything, pretentious. He's a directionless, self-pitying jerk, and what he needs is a swift kick in the rear from his wealthy, climbing, city-dwelling socialite parents, who are clearly too busy with their own lives to properly rear him or his siblings. He is everything wrong with material success, with its entitlement and the ennui which comes with never being challenged.

More than anything, what hammered me in the forehead from the very first chapter was that Holden Caulfield IS America. In the 1940s, as America became the global giant, here is Holden Caulfield representing every aspect of it. He grows up too quickly and is immature, believing he is not. He is given much of what he has, really never having to work for any of it, and is ungrateful, not realizing what it took to get him where he is. His immaturity leads him to speak far too often when he would serve himself better to be quiet and just listen and learn. He cannot stay with a single task or a long-term project; he has to jump to another and another and another. He derives his self-worth from his shallow and meaningless relationships, which are self-serving, fleeting and often just plain false. He is smitten by Jane Gallagher, but never levels with her, never tells her the truth; he just avoids it. He is directionless, accepts no challenges, and feels no remorse for his mistakes. When he fails, he sees it coming and does nothing, then he rationalizes it away and flees, rather than taking responsibility and making things right. He denounces everyone and everything as pretentious and phony, when that is exactly what he is. He wants to be a grown-up, and play-acts at being one, never understanding what it takes to join that cohort.

Interesting is that both of what today would be called mentors to Holden are people he essentially describes and we see as failures. His old teacher is superficially respected for his knowledge, but Holden sees him as grubby and poor, the unavoidable physical manifestation of his age compromising any real influence he could have on the young man. Mr. Antolini turns out to be a false mentor, a closeted homosexual driven to alcoholism, who attempts to molest the naïve Holden (depending on your interpretation).

Given the period in which it was written and restrictions on publishers, I can understand the book's lack of profanity, but its absence in a boy of 16-17 compromises his character. This was even more so with regard to the lack of sex. Holden was more interested in drinking and smoking than in sex, and I found that as a teenager reading it and again as a 40-something geezer that just doesn't ring true. He talks about it, and mentions it from time to time, but it is not in Holden the undeniable primitive driver that I know it to be.

Fascinating in this book is the absence of World War II. There are a few mentions of men in uniform, but precious little else about the war. Even a teenager's self-absorbed detachment could not escape this oppressive fact from 1939 to 1945 and well after, especially a teenager who soon enough would be eligible for the draft. This can only be a deliberate omission from Salinger, and it is another aspect of the book which I feel compromises it. While any treatment of the war would take this story in many directions other than the main story arc, I believe it is something that has to be addressed here, especially given the book's physical setting in New York City and its conceptual and physical proximity to the European theater.

Now, as for the end. Is Holden really ill, deathly sick with some unspoken malady, from which he emerges messianically at the end? I don't really think so. He fell ill because he wasn't eating, choosing to smoke and drink instead. He passed out and vomited because he hadn't slept in over a day, and was hung over and dehydrated. So what of the extended stay in the hospital? It sure looks to me like it was a forced institutionalization for mental health reasons, a good six months of intensive therapy to give this young man a bit of perspective on what it means to follow through, do what you're told, and exhibit some hardiness, if you're going to succeed.

To wrap it all up, I think every American should read this book. It's easy, it flows effortlessly, and its writing is outstanding. It's a great portrait of upper class life in New York in the middle 1940s, a tale of a maturing teenager, and of the America he inhabits.

my first thought after finishing it was, "i must have read a different 'catcher in the rye' because this certainly can't be the book that i have heard soooooo many great things about." i just don't know what other to say...i was extremely disappointed in this boring, never changing book. you could have read the same chapter 20 some odd times over again and gotten the gist of this book. i believe i would have had a different opinion if i had the chance to read it when it was written in the fifties, the concept might have seemed revolutionary back then. nowadays, its just normal, everyday teen life...and thats a bore. i'll leave you with nothing, because that is exactly what this book left me with.

This is the book that first made me realize I dislike reading almost any criticism about literature. I don't care what Harold Bloom thinks about the significance of Holden Caulfield's red hunting cap, I don't care what he thinks about Holden's obsession with where the ducks go in the winter; I don't care what he thinks about anything in this book. Part of me thinks that there's something dreadfully wrong with the image of any critic sitting down to put their scholarly paws on any page of this book. It makes me feel they missed the whole point of the book, and I don't want to listen to a critic who missed the whole point of the book. It's the phoniest thing in the world. The Catcher in the Rye is good because of its readers. They bring something to the book against which scholarly criticism pales.
Every time I read The Catcher in the Rye I find something in it I never caught on any of my previous readings. This time I was struck by the architecture of novel. Salinger's structure. After reading the book I spent an hour noting the parallels among the scene with Mr. Spencer (a teacher of his from the school he is about to leave) that starts the novel, and the scene with Mr. Antolini (a former teacher of his from another school) near the end of the novel.
I continue to adore Holden's memory of his brother, Allie, and his relationship with his little sister, Phoebe. And I continue to feel sorry for the grumpy grown ups who think The Catcher in the Rye is nothing more than a 200-page rant about teen angst. That's just gorgeous.

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is a fiction novel about the hardships of life as a teenager.

After sixteen year old Holden Caulfield gets kicked out of his fourth school in a row he ventures out into the world to find what makes him happy. Eventually, he decides that what he truly wants to be is "the catcher in the rye." He describes one of his dreams where he is keeping younger kids from falling off the edge of a steep cliff while they are playing in a field of rye. This is the only thing he wants to do with his life to make him happy.

I found this book to be very interesting and it was fairly simple to just sit down and read without hesitation. This book would be a good choice for teenagers because it's easy to relate to for all of the problems that teens have to go through like school, love, family, and their future.

Although this book is about the hard times of a teenager it has many humorous parts. The author often talks about Holden's relationships with girls and how awkward some of them can be. He is also never afraid to say any of his thoughts out loud which makes the book enjoyable and entertaining.

This book was a memorable story and has become one of my favorites. However this book is difficult to understand in some parts because of the wide variety of vocabulary, but after you get past that it's a great book.

A book that was never assigned to me while in school, I felt deprived of the fact, so I picked it up and read it right after graduating Uni.

I wanted to like the book, I really did. I hadn't the slightest clue of what it was about, just knew it was a highly regarded piece of literature and that it was the book Mark David Chapman was obsessed with when he shot John Lennon.

I enjoyed the writing style. The main character speaks to you directly, as if telling you a story over a cup of coffee. The opening paragraph has got to be one of the most appealing openings to a book I have ever read. When you finally learn what the title of the book means, you wonder why it never caught on as a mainstream phrase like "Catch-22" did.

With that being said, the book really goes no where. It starts off promising; a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield, talking about how he ended up where he currently tells his story from, a rest home he was sent to for therapy. I expected the rest of the book to tell me some horrific tale of terrible events that led up to Holden having to be sent away.

Far from it. We follow Holden through the days following his expulsion from school and him going back to New York to eventually face his parents, who have yet to learn of the news.

That's about it. There's nothing concrete about what causes Holden to end up a 'mad man'. Maybe this book has lost its touch over the years. Holden often talks about what society now considers 'light' subjects, but will interject with a 'could you believe it?' or a 'I swear it's true', or something along those lines, leaving me to chuckle at the fact those particular topics were considered taboo at some point in time. Yet the way Holden speaks, cursing every chance he gets (to the point where characters in the story are constantly telling him to steady off the curse words), would make someone think that he's no stranger to those sort of things.

Some memorable quotes here and there, but overall I wouldn't be bothered recommending the book to anyone.

Reading for enjoyment - 1 star. Reading for study of mental illness - 4 stars. Those of you who are reading this because you have class paper, may be asked to present a diagnosis and treatment of Holden Caulfield's "mental illness." Holden's struggles may not be common teenage crises, but the result of bullying and abuse leading to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Remember Holden words: "When something...like that happens(Antolini), I start sweating... That kind of stuff's happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid." Then there's the neglect by his parents..."What my lousy childhood was like" A good source reference to help with your diagnosis is 50 Signs of Mental Illness by James Hicks, MD.

unless u would want to see the world from the eyes of ordinary 16 year old, it is a complete waste of time n money ... there's no depth in it and as u move on to chapters the story wears off disappointingly, n u would feel like reading a diary of some teenager ... u get nothing out of it really - to be honest i didnt even finish the book.

Just an incredible read. I enjoyed the book years ago and was amazed at the comparison to today's lost youth. or something...

A week in the life of Holden Caulfield, a confused and troubled teenager who has just been expelled from yet another school and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. That is the plot of "The Catcher in the Rye". It's a pretty flimsy plot, but the writing is beautiful. Salinger has given Holder Caulfield the voice of a lonely, immature young man who doesn't understand how immature he really is, and that voice is pitch perfect.

Holden Caulfield is one of those characters who you will either love or you will want to slap silly. I am one of those people who fits into the former category, whereas my father is one of those who fits into the latter category and I think the difference is largely due to the fact that Holden Caulfield reminds me of me, whereas my father can't identify with him at all. It's impossible to determine which category you will fit into. However, a large number of people have managed to draw inspiration from this work over the years including Bill Gates, Tom Robbins, Stephen Chbosky, and a convicted murderer or two.

"The Catcher in the Rye" is J.D. Salinger's first novel and it introduces themes that would appear again in his later works. People who have read and enjoyed this book, may find Salinger's Franny and Zooey also to be of interest for the parallels between Franny Glass and Holder Caulfield. Both are youths who insist that everyone in the world is a phony except for themselves.

"The Catcher in the Rye" is often considered to be the first teen novel ever written and one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, if not, of all time. Regardless of whether you agree with this or not, it's a short novel and it wont take you long to read it in order to form your own opinion.

unlike most artistic works touted as profoundly significant this one fails to live up to the hype without seeming pretentious as a result. it doesn't seem very ambitious. just a light easy read without much there to either praise or criticize. far from the angry loner the character is said to represent Holden Caulfield seems basically laid back and content, more average than intense. it's an engaging read once you get past the first chapter, and maybe that's not a compliment to be sneezed at since so few books really seem to actually hold my attention, but it's nothing more than that. it didn't make me think.

I don't understand why people enjoyed this book. I found Holden (the main character) to be annoying and uninteresting. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. All I can say, is "UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGH!!"

J.D. Salinger is a reclusive writer. This book is his classic novel about Holden Caulfield who gets kicked out of prep school and goes to his hometown of New York City in post-World War II era. Sadly, Holden lives and deceives some of his pals not intentionally but because he has got nothing better to do with his life. Throughout the book, Holden's life comes unglued or disected into feeling an empathy for him. He has no empathy for the world around him. He wants more than the standard way of living. Caulfield is a highly intelligent man who is disconnected with the world around him by choice. I feel pity and sorry for him and hopes that his misery will come to an end soon but he is no better than those he writes about in this book.

Maybe its just that Im a lady but I was not able to interpret this book into anything.....I have heard all this jazz bout it....I was always waiting for him to just like kill somone or himself....but he seemed to oh i don't know ....if its even called control? Oh well...I am glad I have read it for it is a highly famous book....and what's one if they havn't read any famous books? I just maybe was confused as to what the book was really about....But it is one of my friends fav so I thought i would give it a read.... and again I am glad i did..

I'm 13 and I had to read this for school in italian. I don't usually like the books I'm assigned to read for school but I must say, this was pretty good. I'm not much of a classic fan (although I did like To Kill a Mockingbird) and I didn't even know this was an american classic. I rated it three stars for this reason (although I think it deserves a 3 and a half) and maybe because it got a little boring in certain points. Still, it was well-written and also pretty educational.
I totally reccomend this book to historic-book lovers. Instead, if you're more of a sci-fi or fantasy lover you might like to read this just because its a classic or you could just go on with Harry Potter, Twilight Saga, Uglies series etc.

I was one of the lucky ones who managed to make it through high school without having to read The Catcher in the Rye. However, I was recently challenged on J. D. Salinger's "magnum opus" and, having never read it, I could not respond other than to say, "Don't know." So in the interest of informing myself on the subject, I read it.

In brief, The Catcher in the Rye is a tale of Holden Caulfield, a neurotic, narcissistic sixteen year-old from an upper crusty family who flunks out of prep school and spends a night of debauchery in New York City. Holden has a penchant for calling everyone a phony, yet it soon becomes obvious that he's the biggest phony of them all. The narrative style is first person, so the reader is forced to endure Holden's puerile blather throughout the entirety of the work. The fact that his younger brother died tragically is supposed to add a level of pathos to the story, and I suppose provide an excuse for why Holden acts and thinks the way he does.

There is so much wrong with this book, that it can't possibly deserve the kind of accolades its gotten over the years on the strength of Salinger's writing skills alone. Simply put, what made this book special is that it was (and is) a vehicle for introducing young people to obscenity and "alternative lifestyles"--and making them seem normal, at least in comparison to the occasionally judgmental but always hypocritical main character. The amount of pointless vulgarity and blasphemous language contained in The Catcher in the Rye is so overwhelming, even by today's standards, that the reader quickly becomes numb to it. It was apparently one of the first mass market books to incorporate the phrase "f--- you", and no doubt that made it immediately attractive to those with an agenda of breaking down societal standards.

Salinger is a sloppy writer, with stream-of-consciousness tangents flowing out in every direction. Some of these are meant to be profound, I suppose, but their profundity never reaches above the level of frat-house philosophy. Some might say that this was Salinger's point--to recreate the ribald banter and egotistical musings of upper-class teenagers. But to what end? Such talk quickly becomes trite and tiresome in person, let alone when encountered in the written word.

On the whole, there is nothing inspired or inspiring about The Catcher in the Rye. I can't imagine how anyone who reads it will come away with any positive insights into life, the world, or the human condition--negative ones abound, of course. Recalling how naïve I was as a teenager, I can readily imagine the kind of impact a book like this might have had on me, particularly in light of the false gravitas English professors are wont to bestow upon the works they select for study.

If you are a young person whose professor has selected The Catcher in the Rye as part of your course work, you should take it as an insult. Imagine as you read that this is how your professor views you and everyone in your age bracket--as moody, ill-spoken, amoral losers who awkwardly seek sexual encounters and intoxication at every turn. If you don't view yourself that way, I would encourage you to read something better, more positive, and more uplifting--like the book that would have been my favorite as a teenager had it been available at that time: Angels in Iron.

I liked this book as a kid. When I read some libraries wouldnt carry it, I bought some and sent them to youth centers.

I remember this book being a 'sensation' when I was young and now I'm getting around to reading it. Haven't finished so will hold opion until then.

I bought this copy as a gift. Both the recipient and I have already read and loved this book, but this new format makes a wonderful "keeper" copy.

The Catcher in the Rye is in my opinion the best coming of age novel ever written. The main character, Holden Caufield, is the "protector of innocence" opponent of every thing "Phony".

Holden doesn't seem to fit in at any of the many schools he attends. He gets kicked out of all them and doesn't really care. He hates the phoniness of all the teachers and wishes everyone would just be honest to themselves. He makes friends with all the rejects in the school, such as old Ackley.

Holden is caught between childhood and adulthood. He remembers how Jane always kept her checkers in the back row when they played checkers, which is a very childish thought. But he also frequently thinks of death, which is a very adult thought.

The Catcher in the Rye is one of the best books you will ever read. It is perfect for young adults (such as myself) that are struggling with the phoniness of the adult world.

there really isnt much to say. the catcher in the rye has always been a classic, especially to detached young boys coming of age. just read it. its part of your basic education.