Rating: 
Summary: Wherefore art thou JD
Review: I know, I know, JD doesn't like the outside world, but just say I wanted to write him, how would I do that? For some unknown cosmic reason, my hand is compelling me to write. I want to write! I want to talk to someone more insane than me, not that JD is insane but he just gets it ...
Rating:
Summary: So far, one of the best books I've ever read.
Review: I learned that I would have to read this book in my English class this year, so I decided to read it on my own first. I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but I love it! The book is fabulously written. J.D. Salinger did a great job of making Holden Caulfield come to life, and sound like a teenager that really existed! I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially teenagers, because it really speaks to you.
Rating: 
Summary: Alternately amusing and boring, but a VERY fast read.
Review: I like Holden Caulfield, I really do, and "Catcher in the Rye" is a pretty amusing book. I mean it, it really is. But it isn't the literary Olympus many claim it to be. Holden Caulfield is immature, crude, lying and hypocritical, yet he's also caring, sincere, open, and likable. All of that blends to make him also charming The story reads similarly to Virginia Woolf's experimental fiction, "To the Lighthouse", though more focused, not as severe in its wandering, and less of a bore because Salinger is a better writer than Woolf. Did I say "less" of a bore" than "To the Lighthouse"? Yeah. Holden really is completely likable; the kind of kid you'd want to hug every time you saw him, but he rambles and much of that rambling is unrelated to anything of importance, much as is the case in "To the Lighthouse". "Catcher in the Rye" is a fast, easy read, but there are still times when I just felt like putting it down for good, because it too often becomes little more than a featureless droning, much like "To the Lighthouse". Salinger had a spectacular ability to build a character with just a few lines of dialogue. There is a host of personalities within the covers of "Catcher in the Rye" and though we rarely get more than a glimpse of each we come away feeling that we know far more about them than is included in the written word. Holden is both remarkably perceptive and remarkably naive. This keeps the narrative interesting where it would otherwise bog down again. Emotional content is most often flat, because Holden has a too frequent habit of flat out telling us how depressing this and that and him and her and . . . and . . . and, is. It's one thing after another, told without any feeling, and by three quarters of the way through the reader starts thinking, "so what". There ARE parts that will make you stop and think, "wow" in a subdued, even melancholy way, but don't expect to have to set the book aside while you wait for the tears to dry up. It isn't going to happen. It's difficult in the extreme to find a discussion You'll find a good-sized handful of things that WILL make you stop and say, "Hmmmmm.", but if you're expecting to have your beliefs regarding self, life, societal woes, or the fundamental goodness/evil of mankind challenged then you're reading the wrong book. That isn't going to happen, either. Is "Catcher in the Rye" a great book? A work of unparalleled literary genius? Heck no. As with Woolf's "To the Lighthouse" it's missing far too much to even be considered a story. But it's pretty good, and I'm glad that I took the time to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Great goddam book!
Review: I like it. I like it alot!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting reviews???
Review: I like the negative reviews better then the positive ones. I think the negative reviews capture Salinger's phony point better then the positive reviews. We all know some "Holdens", most of us never really bother to get to know them. Some of us can't handle even thinking about them (see any really negative review). I knew a "Holden" that killed himself in 10th grade. This book made me really think of him. Too bad he didn't have a sister like Phoebe. Salinger takes you inside his "Holden's" head for a few days. It isn't pleasant. Holden can make George Carlin look like an optimist. Salinger jumps right in - it's raw and has an edge. Very good book. I don't think it captures the same feeling in 2002 as it did in 1951. I can't believe it came out in the 1951. We're talking about 1951, most people couldn't handle Elvis shaking his hips on TV! This book must of caused a massive seizures among the proper(phony) people of the time.
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining and sincere book.
Review: I liked catcher in the rye. Everytime I put it down, I couldn't wait to begin reading it again. The book is humorous at times and very honest, which makes it funny. Holden Caulfield, seems a little disillusioned about people and how phony they are and the other characters in the story are extremely realistic. Like Phoebe, Ackeley Kid, Sally? (the one with the loud voice), and Stratedler. But it's too bad Holden never got to meet "Old Jane" again. this is a good book.
Rating: 
Summary: It was a good book.
Review: I liked Holden's character. He told people what he felt and did not hold much back. I was able to connect with Holden, being a teenager. It was an easy and fun book to read.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: I liked how Haulden Caulfield didn't care what happened to him as long as he didn't have to be forced into doing it. I liked the end, and where he ends up. Other then that, it's nothing spectacular. Pretty good.
Rating:
Summary: Where will holdens life go from here?
Review: I liked that fact that Salinger explained holden and his travels and his life in such detail. It really made the book come alive, it seemed like you were a spectator watching holden throughout the whole book. My dislikes towards the were that holden said how he hated people who kept repeating themselves and yet he was worse, he repeated himself all the time. It really got annyoing. As far as the ending went I thought it went with the them of the book, which direction will it go nobody knows?
Rating:
Summary: Over-rated.
Review: I liked the book, but it is not, in my opinion, worthy of the praise which is bestowed on it. I rate a book by whether I would like to read it again, and this one I wouldn't. However, it is a book that should be read by everyone, like in high school.
|
