Rating: 
Summary: WONDERFUL!!
Review: As a teenager the same age as Holden is, Salinger truely knows what teens face, no matter what century we are in or how much people think being a teenager has changed. he really knows how to grab the audience and hold on to them with a tight grip until the very end.
Rating:
Summary: A Life-changing Novel
Review: As a tenth grader, this novel was assigned reading for me but i actually read it before we began. I started reading it in math and finished it in about 4 periods, or eight hours. I felt I could really identify with Holden, I mean who can't (except all you phonies?). His brutal honesty is identifiable as well as humrous. Salinger uses a combination of teen-age slang and comical albeit negative view on life to create an affected dumbness of Holden which proves sometimes it's smart to be stupid. To those who say it is not a great piece of litereature or how amazing the diction is well it's not. But it makes for an amazing read which I couldnt say for Hemmingway or Dickens. Much like the guitar sometimes the simple is better and more effective than the long drawn out complex progressive. Intelligence can only be so advanced before it becomes stupid. The Catcher in the Rye never lost interest as did a Tale of Two Cities with it's drawn out pages of contradictions. I mean what's better some Pink Floyd long-guitar solo or the quick lyrical solo of Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box? Sometimes the simpler the diction, the more effective. I think anyone from ages ten to one hundred will enjoy this, but if you dont want your kids getting off that carousel of innocence then dont let them read it. And dont ever tell anyone anything you read because then you will start to miss the book. Enjoy...
Rating:
Summary: J.D. UNDERSTANDS THE ALIENATION I FEEL
Review: as a thai girl who happened to pick this book up because it's on her sister's boookshelve, i'm not sure whether i'm gonna be able to describe how i really feel about it since i'm not a native speaker like many of the readers. one thing i can say is that while i was reading the book, alone in mcdonald's, i felt as if i were holden. i have to admit that it's painful though, to read a stuff that reminded you so much of your life. but in a way, it was like a relief knowing that how you've been feeling all along had been (and,presumably, is being) shared by someone. i'm not sure that this is the best book i've ever read or not, but it sure is the most favorite one i have recently. i wish everyone can understand and learn something from him. at the end of the book i realized that while i felt the emphaty holden'd given me, i also felt how phony i sometime was. i'm so surprised my sister never mentioned this book to me before i found it myself. i guess she's one of the lucky people who never suffers from alienantion that she wasn't impressed about the book enough to talk about it
Rating:
Summary: Instruction for use, potential side effects
Review: As far as I'm concerned, this is the best book that has ever been written since the start of modern literature. Ok, the beginning of my review could seem a bit cheesy but the impact this book had on me was so striking that i don't even know where i should start from. However, the more you read about the "madman stuff" that happened to Holden Caulfied in a cold December in NY city after he got kicked out of prep school, the more sympathy you feel for him, the more thoughts and feelings you share with him. He's just a nonconformist teenager that really hates movies and hypocrisy, has to deal with a lot of peers and adults that turn out to be extremely phony and ready to deceive each other for their personal interest. He realises his perception of the world is different from the one he had in his childhood, when everything seemed fine and everybody loyal to one another. Therefore he wishes he could look after all the young kids who aren't yet aware of the hypocrisy that affects human beings and these feelings are really strong whenever he's next to his little sister Phoebe, who could be regarded as the epitome of sincerity and need of protection.
You will fall in love with Holden's forthright way of thinking, you'll end up sticking up for him during the tons of arguments he has with "phony bastards" such as his arrogant and conceited roommate Stradlater or a pimp that tries to fix him up with a young prostitute, you'll get very emotional when reading about Holden's deceased brother Allie, you'll be amused when the starring of this book is taking the piss out of his nerdy roommate Ackley, you'll get really involved while reading about the topsy and turvey relationship Holden has with girls and sex, you'll be glued to the pages of the book when Holden narrates about the good time he had with Jane - a girl he is very fond of - and how different she is from the others, you'll end up taking a taxi and asking the driver whether he knows where all the ducks and coots go in the wintertime when the lagoon is very icy and frozen. You'll change your way of regarding people, I mean, you'll start loving people you are getting along well with, you will literally hate people that do not give you any kind of vibe.
You'll realise how rare Holden's sincerity is, above all in a particular society where a teenager's biggest concern is the quality of his leather suitcases that could look tacky if compared to his roommate's ones.
Rating:
Summary: Salinger Stimulates Critical Thought
Review: As I browse through other reader comments, I'm glad to see that most readers enjoyed Catcher in the Rye. J.D. Salinger's writing style is easy to follow and the tone that he expresses through Holden Caufield is very personal. I remember reading Catcher in the Rye for the first time as a teenager in High School (more than ten years ago). To this day, whenever I interact with other people I often consider how Holden Caufield would read the situation. It keeps me from becoming overly pessimistic or cynical about anything. Whenever I catch myself thinking like Holden, I try to open my mind to alternative perspectives--optimistic or neutral viewpoints. The theme of the novel also helps with understanding people like Holden; the cynical, pessimistic, irrate, grumpy, moody, depressed, ect... And although the ending may seem abrupt, I think this was Salinger's intention; it sets up the reader to think critically and imagine whatever fate they want to attach to Holden. I am thankful that Catcher in the Rye was required reading in high school. Salinger doesn't play around with too much vocabulary or symbolism. Catcher in the Rye is one of the first novels that peaked my interest in books and stimulated my critical thinking patterns.
Rating: 
Summary: It wasn't as good as what it's all cracked up to be.
Review: As I college freshman, I read C.I.T.R. in order to produce a literary analysis. I'd heard a lot about the book, and I expected it to be interesting, with a good message. Instead, it became boring. I kept feeling that it was about to get good, but it never did. I was starting to get sick of the negativity this 16 year old repeatedly spoke of. I went through some of the same struggles when I was a teenager, but I wasn't blaming everything on other people. The book is worth reading, but don't expect it to get good or anything.
Rating: 
Summary: I must be missing something
Review: As I have recently begun limiting my reading to pretty much only "classic" literature, on any given day I may end up re-reading a selection because I think I'd have a better appreciation for it now than when I had read it last. This was the case with Catcher in the Rye. In fact, despite knowing that I had read this before, I honestly could not remember anything substantial about it. Naturally, I assumed that with all the acclaim that this title carries, the only possible explanation for my not being able to recall any details about it was that it may have been "required reading" at some point in my life and it was understandable that i didn't remember THAT. So, I decided to order it for my collection... Now I know why i couldnt recall its story - it has none! I checked and double checked to be sure i had not accidentally gotten some sort of abridged version. There is no substance here whatsoever. I'd compare it to reading an unedited diary. It took only a few hours to finish and I was shocked when I had reached the end. There wasn't a single event to inspire any emotion at all. If you could have recorded my thoughts (word for word, you wouldn't have had to edit them in the least) for three days of my adolescent life, even somewhat uneventful days, you'd have this book. There is nothing clever here. To sum it up into one adjective: "everyday". These thoughts are not worth collecting into a novel. I can't believe these other reviews are for the same text. More substance can be absorbed reading a magazine.
Rating:
Summary: The book about us, the teenagers.
Review: As I started to read this novel, The Catcher in the Rye, I did not like it. There was no point to the novel. Nothing made sense, but as I kept reading this novel I liked it. This book represents many teenagers like what they go through, how they live with others, what they think about others. This book is perfect, because it makes you think that you are Holden, you know his feelings, and Holden lets you everything in details.
The way that Holden talks may offend many people because it uses profanity, but it represents who he is and lets us know the he is depress, he does not uses profanity like goddamn to feel cool, its to lets us know that he is depress after his brothers death and being kicked out of school.
I will be sixteen soon, and I just finished reading the book, and I think that this book resembles lots of teenagers. Irresponsibility, arrogance, laziness are just things that represents us like teenagers.
One thing I know for sure is that if one day this book makes its first movie, it will be a great movie, and I know I will be there to watch it. This novel is the greatest book I ever read in my life, I even think that is even better than To Kill a Mockingbird, because this novel does not take to deep into the book, it does not describes everything as it does in The Catcher in the Rye. That is what makes this novel really good, it makes you feel as Holden from the beginning to the end. Other thing for sure I know I will do is to recommend this book who is a teenager to make them realize who they are.
Rating:
Summary: Billy's Review
Review: As I was reading "The Catcher in the Rye," by J.D Salinger, it made me think about the world that we live in today, and if this situation that Holden Caulfield is in,realistic. Throughout the novel, Holden encounters many different women, for mostly the same reason, and need I say more. The boy is just 16 years old, and has been kicked out of school for his grades/actions numerous times, without his parents really caring or knowing about him and his education. I find that hard to believe that the parents of today's age would allow their child to go through this. Even though this story takes place in the 1950's, i still do not believe parents in that day and age would allow it either. When Holden Caulfield runs away from school before Christmas break, I find it hard to believe that all of the people of Manhattan, wouldn't question him. Why a 16 year old boy would be able to check into a hotel by himself, and go into a few bars with 30 year old ladies and be served. Correct me if I'm wrong, I beileve that you have to be at least 18 years old to check into a hotel room, and 21 years of age to be served alcohol in New York. The one part of this novel that I did enjoy was how Holden speculates the people in the society he lives in are so dumb that they would actually write a four letter word, followed by a "you", on his tombstone. Even though I can't see that happening, I found that very humorous. I also love the fact that he calls everyone "phony", when really I think he is phony. He seems like he is the person who has a negative outlook on everything in the world, except towards the end of the novel, when he is optimistic about his future. Overall, I'd rate this 3 stars out of 5, which in my mind isnt too bad. There were many points in the novel that made me laugh and really think about some things. But what brought the score down was, I didn't like how Salinger had the society play dumb in the novel. There are numerous times where Holden gets away with things that in my mind, would be shocking if he were to do the same in today's world. If Iwere to recomend this book, I would recomend it too mature teenagers who like fictional stories. A few changes to improve this novel, could of made my review a lot different in a positive way.
Rating:
Summary: Too dumb to be ironic
Review: As I was reading this book, I was waiting for the author to finally get critical of Holden's shallow self-pity, self-gratifying rants, and senseless behavior. I thought such a classic and highly regarded book could not possibly be endorsing Holden's meek frustration, ironic arrogance, and outright paranoia. I was waiting for this book to contrast Holden's senselessness with a clear-thinking and stable character, but such a contrast never came. The possibility remains that the author was offering a VERY subtle criticism of Holden, but this book just doesn't seem to carry enough intellectual weight to pull off such subtle irony. The book details three days in the life of it's protagonist Holden Caulfield . It presents him in several situations (some run-of-the-mill and some a little spectactular) and shows how mentally unstable he is. The book then proceeds to blame his mental ills on society, saying that modern society is an alienating place for teenagers. This is true of course, but only for somebody without anything to believe in, somebody cynical, somebody like Holden. The book glorifies Holden's mental instability by making him out to be the victim, somebody who can't help his senselessness. This book would have been great had the author realized that simply detailing sensitive person's alienation is not enough for a good novel. He needs to get to the root of that alientation (Holden's cynicism) and ACTUALLY MAKE A POINT ABOUT IT. This book is so highly regarded because in it cynical people have found a justification for their senselessness. "He who writes for fools will always find a large public"
-Shopenhauer
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