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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #177 in Books
• Published on: 1994-08-04
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Amazon.co.uk
Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent". Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his 16-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins:

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two haemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them.

His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive), capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation. --Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk Review
Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent". Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his 16-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins:

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two haemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them.

His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive), capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation. --Amazon.com

Synopsis
"The Catcher in Rye" is the ultimate novel for disaffected youth, but it's relevant to all ages. The story is told by Holden Caulfield, a seventeen-year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Throughout, Holden dissects the 'phony' aspects of society, and the 'phonies' themselves: the headmaster whose affability depends on the wealth of the parents, his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection.Lazy in style, full of slang and swear words, it's a novel whose interest and appeal comes from its observations rather than its plot intrigues (in conventional terms, there is hardly any plot at all). Salinger's style creates an effect of conversation, it is as though Holden is speaking to you personally, as though you too have seen through the pretences of the American Dream and are growing up unable to see the point of living in, or contributing to, the society around you. Written with the clarity of a boy leaving childhood, it deals with society, love, loss, and expectations without ever falling into the clutch of a cliche.

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Customer Reviews

A classic! (but not for the depth of its story)
I didn't know what to think at first after I finished reading The Catcher in the Rye, I really didn't. Fundamentally, and perhaps rather controversially (because it has such a positive following), I didn't really like the novel as much as I thought I would. I thought that the story was weak, that the plot was largely uneventful, and I was left wondering why so much `evangalising' of this novel? That was my initial thoughts, but once I'd determined that the purpose of this novel was not to deliver an enthralling action-packed story, my opinion began to change and I realised that Catcher in the Rye does have something a bit special about it. That `something special' is in the characterisation of the chief protagonist, 16 year old Holden Caulfield, a youth teetering on the edge of manhood.

Holden Caulfield: the first 'emo'
When 'The Catcher in the Rye' was first put on the market in 1955 it generated great controversy, now having read it in 2007 I can understand why, but in contrast with today's standards, (J.D.) Salinger's yarn is very tame.
There is no real story to this novel nor is there any epic proportions. The reader basically just follows Holden Caulfield around New York in the Winter as he narrates in the past tense.
The beginning of the novel; the first page is iconic. One can almost immediately tell that Caulfield isn't a run of the mill leading man. With his cynical attitude & constant whines, Holden Caulfield can become annoying in more ways than one. Holden Caulfield was the first of a breed of angst ridden, alienated youth, embodied in this unacedemic anti-hero who has been thrown out of a handful of schools.
In a nut shell 'The Catcher in the Rye' is documenting a 'unique' young man's downfalli nto a mental breakdown after the death of his younger brother.

I would recommend this novel to anyone over the age of 12, of either gender. it may not live up to the critical acclaim that it has recieved (most novels with the same hype around them generally don't) but its worth a look.
(Holden Caulfield was labelled as the first ever 'emo'.)
In conclusion this is a profound & insightful read. I am not at all surprised by the impact it made on its first release.

The Catcher In the Rye - J.D Salinger
Possibly one of the most reviewed and revered books on amazon, possibly in the world. I was always gravitated towards this book, being almost a rite of passage to read it being someone that has gone through both depression and he pressures of being a teenage boy.
Following the journey of Holden after being excluded from school in the cold mid winter of east coast America, the story is one of a of a young man who is coming to terms with the world around him. Alone in the big city with a wallet full of money and a head full of big ideas The Catcher in the Rye is at times intimate and heartbreaking, yet uplifting with the same breath. A reminder of our own innocence and naievety, and one of how fragile our minds really are.
The storytelling is impressive, however the style could be a little frustrating, and the pace was tough going at times. There is something to be said for the way the entire story is written in the tounge of young holden, and the fact that the style of his words never once detracts from the story, it only ever seems to enhance the realism of his thoughts.