Catcher in the Rye

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Summary: AN INSPIRATION TO ALL INDIVIDUALISTS
Review: Holden is the character in literature who helps others understand the process of bidungsroman. Some may argue that Holden is infantile and even vulgar, however I argue that he matured into a young man who wanted to protect children and preserve innocence. His constant scratching off obscenties is evident of this. I am in college now and majoring to be a secondary English educator, I indeed plan on teaching "Catcher". It is a must read about the adversaries we all face in growing up_alienation, conformity, struggle for individualism, and adaptation of change.

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Summary: The rolls royce of teen-life crisis books
Review: Holden is the sort of guy that could tell you how a person looked, acted, talked, and moved. Even right after a few years passing. He could tell you. But maybe he just doesn't want to.

Catcher in the Rye is a story of a teen that's not so mediocre. The story starts as Holden (the main character) is narrating about his current hell hole of a school. Everyone in that school seems like a phony. And surprise, surprise, his last few schools were like that too. He seems very unsure. He has seen many people, done many different things, and those are what he'll tell you throughout the book.

The one thing you have to understand is that Holden is a worn-out teenager. His anxiety is killing him, and all he's looking for is a good time, and a good friend, but wherever he seems to go, everything's just lacking something. Until the end...

The true marvel of this story is not what happened, but the way Holden describes what happened. He can make anything humorous, sad, happy, scary... He's the type of person that speaks so eloquently, you can actually get caught up in his words and feelings, and lose yourself.

Catcher in the Rye is a great book with millions of things to teach and tell, but all in a way so wonderful and explicit, you may just have to read it over a few more times.

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Summary: Holden is deep and complicated. And thats cool. Sorta.
Review: Holden is this teenage malcontent who gets sick of school and analyzes stuff a lot. He'd like to off himself, but he's a wuss. My guess is that when he weathers this crisis he's in, he'll start churning out short stories under his real name, write a few novels, and then disappear into anonymity for the rest of life because, well, he'll be embarrassed that he made so much money

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Summary: This book changed my life!
Review: Holden re-inforced the ideals I have about society and helped me see people for what they are. I found it deeply thought provoking. Whenever I feel like a refresher course in human evaluation I dig it out for yet another splendid read.

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Summary: Helps in understanding disillusioned, cynical teenagers.
Review: Holden repeatedly asks different people the simple question of what happens to the birds in the lake when winter comes; he asks whether they die or fly away, or someone moves them. People tell him what a stupid question it is and they change the subject, but no one answers it for him. I'm not sure exactly what to make of it, but this conveys a part of human nature and how teenagers feel at times. Similar is the situation when Holden meets a pimp who hooks him up with a prostitute for a set amount of money. Holden doesn't even have sex with her, but agrees to pay her the agreed sum if she'll just talk with him. Later, the pimp comes back and claims the agreement was for five dollars more than Holden paid. Holden says he would pay that amount if that's what he agreed upon but it wasn't so he refuses to pay five more dollars. The pimp breaks in and beats him up, taking the five dollars. This is an example of Holden stubbornly standing up for what he believes is right, which seems to be what IS right. I wasn't sure about the dispute myself so I went back into the book. Sure enough, Holden paid the pimp what he originially agreed to and the pimp was B.S.ing him. Symbolically, Holden stands up for the truth but it costs him and he loses in the end. It also shows some human nature. Why wouldn't the pimp just get right to the point and say either Holden will give him five dollars he doesn't deserve or he's going to beat him up then take the five bucks? That's how some people act when they are caught in the act-- they are in denial and lie even though it's obvious what they did. Like how convicted felons continue to deny their crime despite overwhelming evidence.

The encounter with the nuns shows that Holden isn't such a bad guy after all. He talks about everyone else with bitter sarcasm and criticism, but he finds no phoniness in them and he genuinely enjoys having lunch with them. He gives a sincere monetary donation to them. After reading this passage, I felt I saw a totally different side of him; that when confronted with sincerely good people, Holden too is good. It is the corruption in his environment that makes him bad.

Holden is disillusioned with the world and he plans to have some fun and get away for a few days before he faces his parents about failing out of school. The sad part is, he can't even manage to "get away" for those three days. He runs himself down mentally and financially even while he's trying to be happy just for a few days.

This book gives a far more thorough description of "phony" than any written definition could. To Holden, phony means typical, conventional, or insincere. I've actually come across a book that markets phoniness as a means to success- "How to Win Friends and Influence People." It says to smile whether you're happy or not, fake interest in and exaggerate admiration for other people, shift blame for your actions elsewhere, protecting your image, and the kind of phony things that would make Holden's blood boil. This book is very popular and if you read it you'll be able to detect those who use it and you'll be reminded of this book. I'm reminded of this book whenever I see the kinds of superficial, artificial social interactions that Holden decries. Every time I see graffiti, especially a "F*ck You" written somewhere, I'm reminded of this story, because Holden talked about how he always erased the "f*ck you's" written everywhere and how no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't erase them all.

Holden speaks with authentic teenage language-- using fragments, simple sentences, and slang words like "heighth". This book is written in poor English but it's good writing because it really sounds like a teenager speaking and not the author.

I've found that a "caul" is a membrane that covers the head of a fetus during birth which represents the blindness and innocence of childhood. Hold-on Caul-field. Holden doesn't want to grow up because he doesn't like what he sees of the adult world.

Although Holden Caulfield feels so detached from society, he is still very adversely affected by it. He seems to be the only one in the whole story who has reacted like this to the world. Why? Partly because Holden has redeeming qualities-- he refuses to become phony and corrupted as best as he can. He's too reactive though. He needs to focus on developing himself and try to tune out what bothers him. He should more seriously consider Mr. Antolini's advice and even consider going back to him as the good friend he was of Holden. He's too pessimistic, shown by how he hardly likes anyone he meets and he even runs from Mr. Antolini, who understood him, cared for him, and listened to him. In the ending, even Phoebe blames Holden for his own problems.

The ending is somewhat inconclusive. All we know is Holden is in some type of mental hospital "taking it easy." But will he recover? I don't know. First of all, he probably won't get along with his shrink. He might eventually commit suicide. It seems the only way for him to recover is to take on the very qualities he hates. Holden tells the story from his viewpoint. If it were told from the viewpoint of someone else, they might say he just needs to "grow up" and appreciate what privileges he has and stop being so cynical and critical. He sure is a cynic but remember what they say: "A cynic is a disillusioned idealist."

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Summary: It was a decent novel.
Review: Holden was a character that I could relate to. He told his side of the story, and didn't hold anything back. Holden wasn't your typical character and this added to the greatness of the book.

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Summary: Doesn't smell like teen angst!
Review: Holden was a very depressed young man. His telling of this story occurs at a mental institution. He is not just a mixed up or upset teenager. He suffers from mental illness. Why do pointy -headed high school "intellectual moron" teachers insist that this book is about teen angst? They've probably been told that and so they pass on their ignorance. "Catcher in the Rye"is a great book because it probes the psyche of a disturbed person without editorializing. We're getting just what Holden got. As we move along with Holden from one misadventure to another we recognize our own moments of confusion, doubt, and pain.

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Summary: Not bad, but sometimes way too slow.
Review: Holden was at times interesting, at times VERY boring. He really does ramble and a lot of that rambling has nothing to do with anything. Still a good book, though. Still worth reading.

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Summary: Life is a game. Will you be the catcher?
Review: Holden was cynical.
Holden was inarticulate.
Holden was observant.
Holden was intelligent.
Holden was lost.

Salinger, on the other hand, is articulate enough to let his readers to see the world through the eyes of his inarticulate main character. As the story unfolds, Holden grows. A once lost soul who has lost himself within the rye field we may call it life, by the end of the story, he has found the meaning of his life: to be the catcher in the rye.

Is the world corny, foolish, meaningless, and perverted as Holden described to be? I'd say yes, but life is a game, a game one plays according to the rules. Should one despair over the facts of life?

This book is very flexible for interpretaions. It is meant to be that way so people with different experience may relate to the story differently and find a guiding light within their confused souls.

Life is like a rye field surrounded by cliff edges. Will you share your light to others and be a catcher in the rye?

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Summary: If this book was written today...
Review: Holden would probably be toting a rifle to school and he'd be on the six o'clock news. This very sad book has a different resonance when you read it as an adult and parent of teenagers. I recommend this to anyone who worries about getting inside their son's head or even if you want to start a converstation with your teen. You should both read this. That way, you can both know you are not alone and you are going through this together.