Catcher in the Rye

Rating:
Summary: A sophmore perspective...41 gorgeous blocks
Review: I'd heard this book was being banned for 'inappropriate material' and, of course, I had to find out why. Holden's angsty tendancies, but subtle humor kept me turning the pages. It was actually the first book I read in two days...wowzas! It provides an insightful, but satirical, outlook on the world of a teenager growing up with no answers. The symbolism, the plot, the overall aspect makes it an instant classic and my favorite book so far.

Rating:
Summary: This book sucks.
Review: I'll admit to being a sci-fi buff, but that doesn't mean I don't love books of other genre's. I decided to read Catcher in the Rye because it was a "classic". Also, this book is found in just about every maniacs glove compartment after they blow up a building or something. So i decided to give it a shot and see what the hell was so special about it.

Well, the answer is nothing... This book just rambles on in its "1940's rebel style. To be frank it had virtually no redeeming qualities other than the jargon he used (swell, terrific, sexy, flitty, and grippy). I kept expecting him to break out of his pathetic existence and kill a bunch of people or find value in his life. He did neither. Instead I spent a few days reading into the mind of your typical pathetic teenage brat.

Don't bother reading.

Rating:
Summary: Good style, but over-rated
Review: I'll admit, I enjoyed the style in which this story was written. He talks with slang, cuss words, uses street talk, and his prose is a good representation of the way people spoke in the late '40s and early '50s.

However, what was the point to this book? Throughout the book, Caufield complains, whines, and tells the reader how much he hates life, the adult world, and everything else. He's very negative, very pessimistic, and is always cynical of society. He can't cope with his environment, can't adapt to the real world, and thus isolates himself and pretends he is above everybody else.

The book has no conclusion either. .. No conclusion, little hope, and an abrupt end to a pointless book. If Holden Caufield hated life so much, why didn't he shoot himself and save my time, and the time of millions of other people?

Kevin

Rating:
Summary: Salinger --a goddam prince.
Review: I'll be quick to say that The Catcher in the Rye is my favorite book. It brought new meaning to 'required reading' and sparked debates like few I had ever witnessed before in a classroom.

However, a lot of people don't appreciate the writing style of J.D. Salinger. Brilliance is not always appreciated or recognized, and of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Many people became irritated at the redundant language, excessive affirmations ("It really was, if you want to know the truth"), intense and long digressions, and overall hypocrisy of the character we know as Holden Caulfield. The way I see it is that Salinger knew exactly what he was doing. He did not digress for pages at a time simply because HIS mind was wandering. It was Holden's mind that was straying and the structure of the book mirrors the content perfectly. Salinger made conscious decisions in this work regarding language and organization, but these only serve to enhance Holden's character. Eventually, this DOES get annoying... but for many of us, not to the point where we want to put the book down. It exposes us to Holden, having a feeling for him (probably frustration) that we can relate to human beings.

Regardless of negative criticism, The Catcher in the Rye will continue to be one of the most popular American books regarding adolescence. Any character that exposes our own fears, our own insecurities, and shares our observations can win us over easily... and Holden Caulfield is no exception.

The bottom line is, the book is incredible... but it's just too much for some people. I guess the only way for you to know... is to just read it yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Dear Holden: Please jump.
Review: I'll be the first to confess to a cultural Achilles' heel that runs up my back, over my skull and down to the unlovely bags under my eyes. As such, I am frequently at a loss to understand what the fuss is about. And it is perhaps for this reason that I still remain perplexed, nay flummoxed, by the cult status of this book and that of its repulsive protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

When I first endured this merciless literary thumbscrew, it was in the late 1970s, at the behest of a high school English teacher who wore clogs, wooden jewelry and ambulatory tents made of faded denim. She believed with almost anguished sincerity that her students would "connect" with Holden, or find something "relevant" in the book. I quickly came to a conclusion that a recent re-reading has done nothing to dispel: Holden is a jackass. He's a spoiled prep school jerk who's so sickeningly self-involved that he has no clue that the people around him exist as anything other than background figures in the melodrama going on entirely in his own skull. He constantly refers to anything that doesn't meet with his schoolboy approval as "corny" and labors under the delusion that he's the first person who ever noticed that the transition out of childhood is awkward and uncomfortable, or that it's just no picnic facing grief and loss. Listen, you pustular little spud, we all go through it, and it's about as cosmically significant as a crumpled wad of used Kleenex. Maybe half a century ago, this hog wallow of teen angst was something fresh. But if Salinger had some larger point to make about coming of age it has all but disappeared in the fetishization of adolescence that took off not too long afterward, and has clung to our culture ever since. And the excruciating way that Holden speaks-the kid sounds like his lines were written by some Monogram Pictures hack who specialized in gangster dialogue for Bowery Boys movies. All that's missing from Holden's self-consciously brittle patois is some edgy patter about the agony of acne or the distressing appearance of pubic hair. ("One crummy day these goddam phony red spots started sprouting all over my mug. Next day it was some corny cork-screwy hairs poppin' outta my BVDs. . . .") On the plus side, this book did make me feel embarrassed to admit that I was 16, but I was one of only two people in the class who felt that way. The other one is in prison today. He strangled an impossibly precocious brat named Allie.

The book does, however offer one appealing if thinly drawn character. This is Edgar Marsalla, the hero who blew an audible fart in the chapel. I can't help feeling that he was expressing his opinion of his grating classmate, and got along much better in life than Holden ever did.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book! One to read again.
Review: I'll keep this short:

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is a very, very good book (but awfully depressing). Besides being interested for the story, it is one of the few books I'm looking forward to reading again to find a "deeper meaning." Read this book.

Rating:
Summary: did I miss the plot?
Review: I'm 16 and read "catcher" for the first time last week.

Although, it's very well written it doesn't seem to have much in the way of a plot (guy gets booted from school, hangs out for 2 days, picks his nose at 3:27 p.m., says "hi" to the doorman at 3:30pm...). Although Salinger seems to feel that adolesence is not a time of "focus" or "plot", he seems to take minimalism a bit far.

Although the sentiments and langague used to express them get old fast, I found it reasonably cogent, and stupid emotionally screwed up teens ARE apt to be repetive. (One reason why I try to stay from them.)

Overall, it was a fun read, but didn't bring the epiphanies everyone said it would. That said, it's gotta' be in the top 25 novels of the last century.

Please e-mail me with any thoughts or responses to my review.

Rating:
Summary: HC: Prophet or Pseudo-Martyr??
Review: I'm 23, read this 3 or 4 years ago, and still haven't figured it out. Now, I'm no scholar, far from it...but most of the reviewers here get a big fat "F" with respect to contributing literary criticism of any value. Reminds me more of the following dialogue from the movie "Throw Mamma From the Train":

"It's whacking material." "Well I think it's very brave." "I think it's vulgar." "That's what they said about Twain." "That's what I'm saying about him."

"I think you're vulgar" "I think you're a no-talent little s**t."

I did however, find one reviewer's criticism to be very insightful, which I am quoting from:

"The world is full of bitterly unhappy people who confuse cynicism and hostility toward the world with artistic sensitivity. Many of them write reviews of books and movies, as they have done here. But avoid such people. They live lives of misery, and spread the misery around so they don't have to be alone in their hatred of the world. And "Catcher in the Rye" is their favorite book."

IMHO, this guy's review is intriguing. Perhaps Holden's entire narrative could be equated with a 16-year old boy who has a fight with his parents, screams, "YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND ME!!!" and then storms out of the house in tears. Is that what happened in this case?

If anyone wants to talk about Catcher please e-mail me at [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: a summary of my own troubled youth
Review: I'm 36 yrs old, and I just read "The Catcher..." for the first time. I can't imagine why I haven't picked it up before. It was a sad and difficult experience to read it, because it dug deeply into my own troubled troubled youth. However, it really made me understand myself better, which I believe ought to be a mark of all great art. I will cherish this book for the rest of my life, and probably read it over from time to time. The star rating is pretty meaningless, though. The book is far greater than a handful of stars.

Rating:
Summary: so smart !
Review: I'm 38 and have just finished reading the catcher. I really liked it and found it profoundly sensitive and intelligent. The words are very simple and let us understand all the fragility of Holden who wants to be considered as a tough guy. Hey, he is 16 and doesn't want to be considered as a kid anymore but it really does take a lot of suffering...
I recommend the book to grown ups and kids in pain. It may help....