Catcher in the Rye

Rating:
Summary: Good? No. Bad? No. What then? I don't know? Who cares?
Review: This was one of those books which it seemed to me everyone else had read but me. So, I got it. This book elicited from me the same emotional response that I would also feel if attending a party of a friend of a friend of a friend; that is to say, slightly out of place but not in an unpleasant way but, not something to look forward to either. It was, the complete absence of feeling yet without being a sort of numbness. I felt neither highs nor lows. I realized upon completing this short tome of mediocrity that I realized I had not missed out on anything nor had I felt an intellectual or emotional loss. I will say that if anything, I perhaps felt pity...for myself and for Holden, but only slightly.

This little literary jaunt firmly re-established in my mind a thorough understanding that the absence of pain is not pleasure and the absence of pleasure is certianly not pain either. As a former co-worker would answer to the "How are ya" question on Monday morning, this book is an emphatic "medium." A thoroughly break-even book.

I neither encourage nor discourage. There are certianly books which make you feel smarter (or at least accomplished) upon completion and there are other books which make you feel dumber when you close the back cover. "Catcher in the Rye" is neither. I will say, however, with great enthusiasm, that, in my opinion, this is not a love/hate book but I would have prefered to have read something else.

Rating:
Summary: Super!
Review: This was the best book that I've ever been forced to read. I loved the insight from Holden even though he complained a lot. I also admired the relationship he had with his younger sister.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the money
Review: This was the most terrible book I have ever read. I wan a refund for all of my money and time put into this. Oh if this sells the world is ending.

Rating:
Summary: nopointtothisbook
Review: This was the worst book that I have ever read in my life. I kept waiting for something big to happen throughout the whole story, and nothing did. All the book is about is a kid that walks around New York and complains about everything that happens to him. He's very depressing. I would rather read the dictionary than read that book again.

Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: This was truly a great book. One of the best books I have read in my life. I read it in 9th grade, and it just made me see that some people just have it much worse off then me. It made me see that the things that I considered problems would just be seen as childish to me in the years to come. This young boy had to face all these obstacles on his way to becoming a young man, his problems were adult problems of some sort. Also, he had a lot of phsycological problems, that he managed to hide from a lot of close people really well. Im not going to recommend this book to everyone, but i will say that this is a book for anyone who 1. likes classics 2. has a lot of problems on their mind 3. likes the kinds of books that talk about life. 4. is a phsycologist 5. just wants a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Very annoying but fairly entertaining
Review: This wasn't a great book or a horrible book just ok the character was very repetive and just very unlikeable always saying "this one is phony and that one is phony" just the most unlikeable character i've ever encountered in my life of reading. And everything depressed this guy did they not have anti-depressents in those days.There are a few good things about the book i enjoyed the frequent though misspelled usage of goddamn was a riot and the way the writer captured middle of the century new york accents was cool and the relationship between holden and his sister was also a nice bit but came way too late in the story to make up for the horribly written character.

Rating:
Summary: Just My Opinion
Review: This will be the normal cliche reveiw for this book. I read it a year ago amazingly (in others opinions) at age 13. The book completly blew me away. It was the first book in my short life I could really relate to. It gave me a completly new out look on life. Catcher in the Rye also started my love afair for everything Salinger. If you haven't read this book it will change your life. Okay maybe not change your life but change the way you look at things. I know everyone will look at this reveiw and critque the poor writing ect. but it was written by a tired 14 year old girl.

If you enjoyed this book check out everything else Salinger wrote. Also read A Sperate Peace by John Knowles (i think)and read The Bell Jar by Slyvia Plath. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to read this-Ashley

Rating:
Summary: Cynical and wonderful
Review: This, along with Catch-22 and The Blind Assassin are amoung my favorite novels right now. Salinger does a great job at creating an amusing unreliable narrator (Holden Caulfield). At the beginning, Holden is failing out of his fourth school and has yet to tell his parents. Holden doesn't want responsiblity; he just wants to be young and running around fields (Catcher in the Rye). As I myself am 16, I found this novel especially relevent and can understand what he feels. Holden is overly cynical, to the point of hilarity, of everything. He espcially hates phonies, but pretty much has something to say about everyone. There are very few people that he respects. So while you are reading this, remember that while Holden is a very intriuging character and is very amusing to read (its like reading gossip at some points), he has faults, too.

Rating:
Summary: The first book I've ever hated.
Review: This, as many people know, is one extremely controversial book. Many people dislike simply for that, but I, on the other hand, have reason for it. Sure, I was required to read this for my freshman language arts class, so, like most books one is forced to read, it's expected that the student will dislike it. Once again, not my reason. Unlike so many people around my age, I happen to like reading, and over this past year, this is the first book I have hated out of the sixty or so I read. I'm sure the die-hard fans of this book are going to go completely insane after just simply reading the title of my review, but this is just one person's opinion. I suggest that you read plenty more, because if you don't hate this book, you'll love it.

Perhaps the worst part of the book would be the main character Holden. Holden is a very angry, bitter, and mentally unstable sixteen-year-old who can find something annoying or depressing in the most simple of things. It seemed to go on forever, his constant whining about the "phonies," or more elaborately put, show-offs and exhibitionists who act like completely different people than they really are. He labels pretty much everyone phony for some reason, and he makes it clear from the first page of his hate of them. The story is told from first person view, hence the complaining. Holden seemed to have an image set in his mind of how other people should be, and should act. In this I'm sure many people can identify with him in some way or another, as so many people have a disrespect for certain types of people. I consider that perfectly acceptable, but the way that Holden constantly went on and on about the phonies and fools who he just couldn't stand just inevitably got on my nerves by the middle of the book.

As I said, The Catcher in the Rye is told in first person view. To make the complaining worse, you add on Holden talking all the time. He seems to like to explain things a bit too thoroughly, and, while he gets the point across, he also manages to get off subject so much it's just unbelievable. I read one paragraph which was, I think, over three pages long, and I know that Holden must have changed subject at least five times over the course of it. This is no exaggeration. I know that the most constant complaint in my class was his rambling. It's as if Holden couldn't keep his mind on one thing for more than a few seconds. That certainly wasn't helped when Holden would start talking about phonies. I'm sure that certainly hurt the book quite a bit.

Really, I can't think of anything about the book which I enjoyed, other than the first few chapters when I was not yet annoyed be Holden's view of almost all other people. In my opinion, Holden ruined the book completely. I'm not saying that this is not well written literature, but it's just a book I hate. It certainly is realistically written, and the characters are well thought out and realistic, but as I said, you either love it or hate it. I happen to hate it. Many happen to like it. Read some other reviews, otherwise you will just hear the view of one person, when perhaps The Catcher in the Rye may deserve more praise.

A bit of feedback please! Helpful or not?

Rating:
Summary: I think this book is quite real.
Review: Though many of you think this is dribble-or smut-or un-couth- or what ever, you all have different words. i found that this book is very real-even now. There are very few teenager's and young adults who cannot relate to this novel. Perhaps, you could call them, oh, "uptight stiffs with no sense of humour." Now perhaps I am wrong. However-most people who "wonder" why libraries keep these books, and why kids read them (as one critic put it) those are normally the people who 'ban and burn'. Now, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I think it is a must read and that it touches into the 'human teenager' as I prefer to put it.