Customer Reviews
I Was Misinformed 
2008-07-24
"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.
Seventeen 
2008-07-24
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.
Dull, whinny, and phony 2008-06-30
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.
What the . . . 
2008-06-27
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.
Deserves the honor of "a classic" 
2008-06-26
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.
my favorite book ever 2008-06-23
Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins, "If you really want to hear about it, 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. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them." His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.
Want to read a knock off? 2008-06-20
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.
Read First when I was 47 2008-06-08
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...
Classic? Read Of Mice & Men Instead 2008-06-04
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.
My absolute favorite 2008-05-31
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.
