The Catcher in the Rye

Title: The Catcher in the Rye

Author: J.D. Salinger

Pages: 216

Genre: Classic

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Holden Caulfield seems to get kicked out of every prep school he enrolls in. Most of his stories revolve around his time at Pencey Prep and the days after he was kicked out when he was just bumming around New York City, avoiding telling his parents that he had been kicked out of yet another school. Holden has a great relationship with his much younger sister and cherishes the relationships of many of his former teachers, yet is often bugged by them at the same time. He despises anybody that is "phony" and finds fault with almost everybody that he encounters.

My Review: I quite liked this book, while almost not liking it at the same time. When I finished it, I felt almost depressed and disturbed. The novel has a long history of censorship and has even cost teachers their jobs just for using it in their curriculum. The book flows very smoothly and is easier than many classics to read. It is easy to relate with Holden because the book is written with a type of stream-of-consciousness style and nothing that goes through Holden's mind is left out. The only thing I was convinced of by the end of the book was that Holden Caulfield is a little bit crazy. I don't see myself re-reading the book anytime soon, but even so, it is one that I may think about for a while to come.

Disclaimer: The book has lots of vulgarity and almost every paragraph has cursing.

From the Book: "(p. 35) He stuck around till around dinnertime, talking about all the guys at Pencey that he hated their guts, and squeezing this big pimple on his chin. He didn't even use a handkerchief. I don't even think the bastard had a handkerchief, if you want to know the truth. I never saw him use one, anyway."

"(p. 173) "I thought it was 'If a body catch a body,' " I said. "Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy." "