Rating: 
Summary: This book ROCKS!
Review: Holden Caulfield may have been placed in a mental institution, but his views on the world are more dead-on than those of any of the "phonies" out there who place themselves on pedestals. The novel's dark and seedy style is not for everyone. However, I am a 17-year old boy, just like Holden was at the time he told his story to the psychiatrist, and I can honestly say this book is a must-read for any teenager disgruntled with the self-righteous hypocrites pervading the adult world.
Rating: 
Summary: LIFE'S NOT EASY
Review: Holden Caulfield reminds me of myself. He has his own opinion on everything. J.D. Salinger really gets in touch with the life of a struggling adolescent. He brings the reader to the reality of life's difficulties: grades,parents,sibilings,teachers, signifingint other (relationship), and growing up. Holden Caulfield isn't exactly like everybody else and that is what makes this book so interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Holden Caufield's Voice
Review: Holden Caulfield said things I could never say, those things I would never say if I had the chance.How many teenagers felt that way reading "The Catcher in the Rye"? While Holden searches for himself, the meaning of life, he was a younger version of those in the Beat movement, or James Dean. Readers go from "Catcher" to Kerouac's "On the Road," with the same easy-going, streaming thoughts kind of way. "The Catcher in the Rye" grabs at the introspective self. Like so many of the Oprah books are for women, "Catcher" is the for teen male. (Did I offend the teens guys, or the Oprah fans?!) I fully recommend "The Catcher in the Rye." It isn't a literary masterpiece, but will intrigue even the passive reader. Anthony Trendl
Rating:
Summary: Best Ever Written
Review: Holden Caulfield was the best character in any book ever written. J.D. Salinger did an excellent job at catching the reader's eye by making Holden's expierences worth reading. If you only read one book in your life, be sure to read this one.
Rating:
Summary: The Catcher in the Rye
Review: Holden Caulfield was this young man raised in the upper middle class area of New York City. His life as a young man was put into these guidelines and if you didn't do what everyone else did something was wrong with you. He became depressed by the shallow people he was around. Holden wanted to be himself and bend the rules out loud. Doing so he found himeself in alot of situations good and bad. In this wonderful story Holden finds joy in the simpliest things of life. He's a very good listner. He believes everyone and everything has a story and he wants to hear it!
If he could change the world he would..............
Rating:
Summary: This book put my view of life in a new perspective...
Review: Holden Caulfield's view of the world really changed my view. Though I may not have understood it, I sort of understood the main points. I may not be as well-read or observant as the other critics. I was just a sophomore when I read it, and when I went back to school, I started to see all the "phonies" in my life. I would highly recommend this book if you like reading about alienist loners.
Rating:
Summary: In a world of phonies...
Review: Holden Caulfield, a brash sixteen-year-old at Pencey Prep, decides to set out on his own a few days earlier than expected due to failing out of school, which wouldn't be the first time. After several confrontations, Holden bids a farewell to Pencey, also known as a "phony factory", hoping to avoid his parents' wrath. After leaving, Holden plummits into the depths of depression, isolating himself and creating his own sense of loneliness. In his new state of ire despair, he finds himself in even more awkward situations, and with nobody to bail him out. In a desperate attempt to salvage what little happiness he can muster, Holden goes home to see his younger sister, who convinces him to stay. It is then that he decides to face the music and start anew.
Rating:
Summary: A World of Phonies?
Review: Holden Caulfield, a high school failure from Pencley prep explores the New York 'underground' for three days before facing the wrath of his parents. While residing at Pencley Prep School, Holden realizes what a phonie world he is living in. He discovers that every single person at Pencley is an undercover phonie. He finds faults in everyone-even the people who seem perfect. And to make things worse, Holden is given the ax right before a vacation for failing every subject except English. Disappointed in Pencley and angry at his classmates, Holden decides to 'leave early' for a three day stay in downtown New York. Unfortunately, Holden does not get a break of phoniness in downtown NY. He tires of the phonie taxi drivers. He tires of all the phonie people that have phonie conversations at the movies. Throughout his stay in NY underground, Holden finds peace only when talking to his dead brother, Allie and his sister, Phoebe. And when Holden returns home secretly the first time, the all important question comes from Phoebe, demanding to know what was important to Holden and what he wanted to be, Holden really begins to wonder. I really enjoyed The Catcher in the Rye, (though I wonder at the total number of cuss words used...)Although it offers a lot of criticism about people in the world we are living in today, there are many intriguing ideas that make this book one of the best books I've ever read. Salinger is indeed a great writer and it makes me wonder how he could have written a book that later became one of the most banned book in the country.....and yet a classic.
Rating: 
Summary: A TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF ADOLESCENCE
Review: Holden Caulfield, a name associated with American literature is studied around the world, and for very good reasons. It tells the tale of one teenager, who is leaves his school, and before returning home, takes a detour and experiences life. Holden represents the problems and troubles faced by adolescents, although he is an extreme example. Holden sees everyone as phony, pretending and acting away their entire lives except for his little sister and young children. Holden seems to have a sense of urgency to save them from their loss of innocence and in their journey into what he called phoniness, hence the title "Cather in the Rye" , as though he must catch them in case they fall of a cliff, and into the world of being phony. In truth, however, Holden himself is phony yet does not realise it. The book is written from the central character's view and the writing style is perfectly fitting to the register of a teenager. One asks oneself throughout the novel is Holden is actually insane, and does he realise it-which means he is not insane as he recognises it. A book with a genuine understanding of growing up, and what is like to develop into adulthood. A must read!
Rating:
Summary: A Classic, One of My Favorites
Review: Holden Caulfield, a teenager growing up in New York during the 1950s, has been expelled from yet another school. (This time, it's Pencey Prep.) His teachers had found him to be incompetent and an underachiever. After coming to the conclusion the so-called "friends" he had made were phonies, Holden decides he has no reason to stay. He packs his bags and leaves, deciding to "take a vacation" in New York before returning to his parents' inevitable wrath. Told as a monologue, The Catcher in the Rye not only describes Holden's thoughts and activities throughout these few days, but it also goes back to his past. He describes some of his true friends, how his parents and childhood were,and gives reasons for his actions. (Like deciding not to have sex with a prostitute.) These few days can probably be best described as a developing nervous breakdown, a result of his unexplained depression, impulsive spending and generally odd, erratic behavior. However, life continues on around Holden as it always has, with the majority of people ignoring the changes that occur in him- until it begins to get them seriously ticked off. Progressively through the novel we are challenged to think about society's attitude to the human condition - does society have an 'ostrich in the sand' mentality, a deliberate ignorance of the emptiness that can characterize human existence? And if so, when Caulfield begins to probe and investigate his own sense of emptiness and isolation, before finally declaring that the world is full of 'phonies' with each one out for their own phony gain, is Holden actually the one who is going insane, or is it society which has lost it's mind for failing to see the hopelessness of its own existence? This is a timeless classic, not to be missed.
|
