Rating: 
Summary: What was he thinking about?
Review: If you would read a book about the life of a sixteen year old, you will think you'll be able to relate to the main character(if you're a teenager too). well, in "Catcher in the Rye" I didn't. I hope Holden wasn't such a miserable boy. He's just pathetic. Actually all the characters are very strange and I'm glad that I wasn't in Holden's place(if he really told the truth about those desperate characters). I also find his style annoying. All that repeating of:"...and all, goddam, sonuvabitch,..." it drove me crazy. It seemed to be taking a lifetime to finish the whole story. I found it very boring. The only good thing about the book was the happy end, otherwise I would have been just as depressed, after reading this book,as Holden was during the whole story. I know there are much better novels about the experiences of teenagers. I think the main character of this book had a terrible, desperate and boring life. I don't look up to him. I don't get why he wrote his boring experiences on paper.
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Summary: The Best Book Ever Written... for adolescent men
Review: If you're an adolescent male (or not far removed), this book is a must read. I suspect that many young men feel they're the only ones who see the world the way they do - and to them I say, "Meet Holden." Many refer to Holden Caulfield as "the hero" of this story, but this is misleading. He doesn't save people for their sake, he doesn't right injustices, and he doesn't leap tall buildings in a single bound. Holden is a hero because he's an icon - the first real representation of an angst ridden teen on his own, personal mission. His rants, ravings, inner monologues and interactions with others should sound familiar to young men. This is not to say that old men or any women wouldn't enjoy this book. To them this book may give the most accurate account of a young man's inner workings, as The Catcher in the Rye is as much a character study as a story. However, this book presents a character that may come off as crass, ignorant, or pitiful to those who are looking for a different kind of hero.
Rating: 
Summary: I want to vomit
Review: If you're fascinated by the ruminations of some whiny rich kid who thinks the world owes him a living as he ponders Central Park ducks and goes whore-chasing, then maybe you might like this book. No wonder Salinger has kept hidden from the public so long
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Summary: The Catcher in the Rye is a Good Book, but not the Good Book
Review: If you're looking for a grand book in which the characters act as they do because they're secretly queer or because they're tired of oppressing women and Indians, then this is not the "text"--as the English majors like to refer to books--for you. Yes, "The Catcher in the Rye" is incredibly "obvious"--hence its perennial presence on so many tenth grade reading lists. But where others see cliched angst and and a lack of subtlety, I see authenticity. No other voice in literature captures the ineffable confusion of adolescence as well as Holden Caulfield's. Reading this book makes me feel young again, and that's worth at least the twenty dollars it costs for the vintage Little, Brown hardcover. If you were, or are, self-aware enough to regret the passing of your innocence, I think you'll enjoy this sad and wonderful book. Let the literary types malign it as they may--after all, it's only phonies who use words like "post-modern" and "deconstructionism."
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Summary: Catcher is Character Driven, not Plot Driven
Review: If you're reading The Catcher in the Rye because you heard somewhere that it'll give you the meaning to life, and there's some sort of hidden message, like reading it backwards says "Paul is dead," don't read it. J.D. Salinger, like so many sadly misinterpreted writers of his day, is examining Holden's internal impulses, searching for meaning in a world where he has yet to find any. This book is written in stream-of-consciousness style, meaning the sentences run-on and meander, true to Holden's thinking. It's actually as if the book were written, and then Holden got his hands on it, and his own interpretation of it is what resulted in Catcher. This book will continue to frustrate anyone who reads it for plot coherence, because it is driven by character. To many people, a good book equals a good storyline with a nice, neat ending, and as a result, this book doesn't measure up. J.D. Salinger instead chooses to CHALLENGE OUR CONVENTIONS of a novel, and in doing so, creates a lasting place for himself among the likes of Joyce and Woolf. Brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: why ARE you reading this?
Review: if you're reading this or any of the reviews for the catcher in the rye stop. people always complain how it is soo overrated and hate the book especially holden...with a passion. so just give it a try, trying not to include other people's opinions when you read. . if you like it, congrats, i do too. if you don't, stop being annoying and read something else.
Rating:
Summary: Why It Deserves 1/5 Stars
Review: If you've ever witnessed a small animal being run over by a car you have some idea of what this book is about. It's senseless, disturbing and everybody points at it and makes you look. The only reason i chose to read this book was because of all the raving people did about it. I'm not a high schooler by any means and i've had a lot of time to reflect over this book. I find it as pointless as the day i read it. You would be much better off reading a nice Grisham, actually and algerbra textbook would be more interesting than this book. Unless you like things repeated three times by a mentally disturbed main character i would suggest you disregaurd all the good reviews. I'll give you a quote that pretty much sums up the main characters speach pattern "I don't like her she's phoney. she really is. honestly.. she so phoney in every way....I know I've only looked at her luggage and know nothing about her." Thanks for reading my review, take my advice.
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Summary: Great Book....It Was Way Ahead of its Time
Review: Im a 16 year old male and i find it very hard to read any novel, but i could not put this one down. This is a great book and the thoughts and feelings that Holden had are some of the exact same that i often have. I espeacially liked the two old nuns and the way Holden treated them and thought of them. I think everyone should this book once
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Summary: A little bit of Holden in all of us......
Review: Imagine.....a novel that can be enjoyed by young and oldalike...an assignment that students will actually _enjoy_ reading....abook that will remain true and relate to members of multiple generations. Somehow, J.D. Salinger has created this masterpice which has - and forever will - withstand the test of time. Far too many times have readers been heard muttering "That's me - I'm Holden Caufield!". Holden represents the restless angst that all of us have experienced at one time or another throughout our lives. High school students may enjoy the book because they think that Holden is "cool" or rebellious. The more mature reader may pick up on some of the deeper meanings throuout the story - far too many that he can relate to. A warning to the reader who looks deep into the words of Salinger: this story will provoke some sort of self-exploraton and/or reminiscence about ones past. This is the book of the 20th century. This will continue to be the book of the new millenium.
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Summary: A cult !
Review: In 1949, while "recovering" in a California sanitorium, 17-year-old Holden relates events that occurred during three December days in 1948 -when he was sixteen. He had just been expelled from boarding school and decided to 'take a vacation' in New York before returning to his parents' inevitable wrath. Told as a monologue, the book describes Holden's thoughts and activities over these few days, during which he describes a developing nervous breakdown, depression, and odd, erratic behaviour, prior to his eventual nervous collapse. Holden begins by saying that his account will not give any moral message. He will not tell about his "lousy" childhood and "all that David Copperfield kind of crap" because such details bore him. This is the kind of 'in the face' honesty that most readers of this book have identified with. The book is a perceptive study of one individual's understanding of his human condition. The book, which came out in 1951, still has a universal appeal to it. It describes the angst, alienation that a 'cynical adolescent' faces. This turns him into a rebel who hates people, judges people and often runs away. The book was banned in America after its publication, which added to its mystique and appeal. The book was considered 'obscene', 'filthy and profane', 'immoral' and has often upset people due to its rebellious views. John Lennon's assassin Mark Chapman asked Lennon to sign a copy of the book earlier in the morning of the day that he murdered Lennon. This gave the book even more notoriety.
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