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Summary: Everyone can relate
Review: Holden Caulfield, the main character in this book, is a teenage boy who is trying to figure himself out. He starts out in a boarding school, yet leaves without permission. He then wanders the streets of New York City for 3 days. He encounters a prostitute, bars, girls, and an old professor. At this point in his life, Holden does not have much faith in his fellow race. Even though at times Holden can seem a bit cynical and pesimistic, I liked him and related to him. For anyone who is a teenager, or been through thier teenage years, they can relate to the obstacles Holden faces in one way or another. Yes, the book has an excessive amount of foul language, but if you can see past it, you will find a wonderful story of three days of a teenage boys' life. I would recomend this book for any and everyone.
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Summary: Caulfield as wry as ever
Review: Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye", is a wry, funny, though somewhat depressing individual. Wise behond his years, Holden finds so much of daily life to be filled with phoniness and ambiguity. His "job," as it were in a manner of speaking, is to save children from falling over the edge into adulthood. "Catcher in the Rye" is a page-turner and I would highly recommend it. Even fifty years after its first being published, it rings true.Another book about a young man's battle with the powers that be is a much more recent novel titled "Love Songs of the Tone-Deaf" by Asher Brauner. It tells of a young man in modern days. This young man is similarly disenchanted with life. But he becomes involved with a girl who pulls him into political action. "Love Songs" is extremely humorous too, I found myself often laughing aloud.
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Summary: Teenage angst summarized
Review: Holden gives voice to the awkwardness that virtually everyone experiences while navigating through adolesence. Salinger is the man. I wish we could all leave him alone long enough for him to come out of his house and hang out with the rest of us.
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Summary: By far the best book I've ever read.
Review: Holden is a character many people can relate to. I've read this book dozens of times and every time I laugh and inevitably find myself enjoying it more than the last time I read it. This is my all-time favorite book next to J.D. Salinger's Nine Stories. The man is a genius.
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Summary: The presant through the eyes of the future
Review: Holden is a character which I personaly found that I could really relate to. He is one who tries to preserve the beauty and innocenses of the youth. He reveales to the reader all of the purities in which children have, yet unconciously lose through there becoming of greater age. Befor I read this book I never was clear exactly on what was that made children so inocent and how it all changed. Now I have a beter understanding and a much higher respect then I thought I could ever have for children. Don't get me wrong I 've always loved children but this just clarifies them alittle bit better. What's in age any way
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Summary: A magnificent book with a great theme & plenty of potential
Review: Holden is a young boy not quite sure what life in general is about. He takes the reader on a journey through a few days of his life where we see that Holden doesn't have all the answers, and infact that may be what makes this book so appealing. Altough the reader may at times be appalled by Holden's attitude and fierce language, we also find him to be irresistable. When Holden is kicked out of his prep school, he is not quite ready to face his family. Instead he decides to take control of his own life. Alone in the city, Holden tries to discover just what he has to offer. There is really nothing special about Holden except for the fact that he is like so many of us, just struggling to survive.
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Summary: A magnificent book with a great theme & plenty of potential
Review: Holden is a young boy not quite sure what life in general is about. He takes the reader on a journey through his mind, where he tells us how he feels about things, sharing many ideas that many of us agree with but are to afraid to say. We see that Holden doesn't have all the answers, in fact that may be what makes this book so appealing. Altough the reader may at times be appalled by Holden's attitude, judgement, and fierce language, we also find him to be irresistable. When Holden realizes he is about to be kicked out of his prep school, he decides to leave early and not face his family quite yet. Instead he decides to take control of his own life. Alone in the city, Holden tries to discover just what he has to offer. There is really nothing special about Holden except for the fact that he is like so many of us, just struggling to survive.
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Summary: Funny, charming, sad
Review: Holden is hilarious. The book works because he is speaking directly to the reader, and tells stories that are ridiculously funny without his trying to amuse. And, yes, he himself is a huge phony. This technique is called irony -- and Salinger is no dummy. The fact that Salinger wrote the book without any intentional moral, message, or goal makes it even more special. It is not forced or trite. The book is very, very sad, yet very, very funny. It is a masterpiece NOT because it is so "realistic" or because Holden reminds us all of ourselves, but because it is novel, creative, and above all, memorable. I have read this book a number of times, and find a new insight with each reading. Kudos to Salinger.
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Summary: Holden the Hero
Review: Holden is not just an icon, he is a hero, a revolutionary. He defies all the expected norms to do what drives his heart. He does so with pure passion for rebellion. He remains kind to the people who deserve it (his sister) and reserves no false kindness for the phonies.
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Summary: This is Life
Review: Holden is one of the most realist characters, i feel, in american literature. Anyone who has ever found themselves on the outside of society, should read this book and live by it. The only reason this book should have been banned by American views is because its the truth, but as the the poet and my english teacher, John Stanizzi, always quotes; "tell the children the truth".
This book is a work of art, Salinger has outdone himself an has set the standard for an aspiring writer. Narration through the most truthful and realistic manner, is through Holden's voice. Greatest book, in probably the 20th century
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