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The Catcher in the Rye

Average rating: 4/5

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The Catcher in the Rye

by J.d. Salinger
As told by: J.d Salinger

Little, Brown And Company | July 16, 1951 | Hardcover

Anyone who has read J. D. Salinger''s New Yorker stories - particularly A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, The Laughing Man, and For Esme - With Love and Squalor, will not be surprised by the fact that his first novel is full of children. The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it. There are many voices in this novel: children''s voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden''s voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.

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Reviews

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      helpful to you?

    Rating: 5/5

    Best School Book Ever!

    Jordan Craddock

    9 months ago

    I had to read this book for my independent study in English last year and I found it to be more relatable then the other books our schools suggest/ force us into reading. I got to choose what book I wanted to read and I chose this book due to the hype & my curiousity surrounding the blank covers. I found that the book has a overhype surrounding it but still a very good read. I would love to read it again in the near future.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 2/5

    Eight Bookcases

    E. Guest

    9 months ago

    Check out my review of Salinger's book on my blog at:
    http://8bookcases.blogspot.com/2011/08/catcher-in-rye-by-jd-salinger.html

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 1/5

    A real let down.

    Martin Matuszczak

    11 months ago

    This book undoubtedly had plenty of hype over the past couple decades, which is why I thought I was sinking my teeth into a very interesting read. This book is taught in schools across the world because for some reason people think that teenagers will be able to relate to themes of the book (which include teen angst, rebellion, confusion, and search for identity) and will be drawn to reading. I think this book would do the opposite and turn teenagers OFF reading! I did not like it at all! I was actually extremely frustrated with the main character and the entire book in general, even though I am a male teenager myself. I don’t think this book represented “teen confusion”, but mere stupid immaturity experienced by a spoiled teenager with too much time on his hands. Firstly, I would say that this book is devoid of an actual plot as literally nothing happens in the entire novel. It’s 280 pages of non-stop mindless droning. The only reason I kept reading was because I thought it would pick up at the end, but it doesn’t. There was about one or two quotes that I liked but beyond that, it was incredibly boring and just not the book for me. I know a couple of people that adore this book though, so it honestly depends on your taste. The style of writing was a little interesting (very subjective first person), but it was overshadowed by the bad things in the book. The main character was frustrating, the plot was mind numbing, and it didn’t hit on any interesting ideas or controversial topics whatsoever. It was an incredible bore. I hope you can see this book in a different light that I did!

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?
    Andrew Schenk

    Rating: 3/5

    Was there a Plot?

    Andrew Schenk

    11 years ago

    Sure the book was good, it had its moments, but seriously what was is about? I read the book looked at it and said huh. The story went nowhere.

    Comments on this review:
    jayne

    I so agree.

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From Our Editors

Holden, knowing he is to be expelled from school, decides to leave early. He spends three days in New York City and tells the story of what he did and suffered there.

From the Publisher

Anyone who has read J. D. Salinger''s New Yorker stories - particularly A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, The Laughing Man, and For Esme - With Love and Squalor, will not be surprised by the fact that his first novel is full of children. The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it. There are many voices in this novel: children''s voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden''s voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.

About the Author

More than 20 years of seclusion and silence have taken their toll on J. D. Salinger's literary reputation, but the impact made by The Catcher in The Rye (1951) and the Glass family stories was deep enough to make a lasting impression and to assure his continued readership. Salinger was born in New York City of Jewish and Scottish-Irish extraction. He attended Manhattan public schools, a military academy in Pennsylvania, and three colleges, but received no degrees. "A happy tourist's year in Europe," he wrote in 1955, "when I was eighteen and nineteen. In the Army from '42 to '46, most of the time with the Fourth Division. . . . I've been writing since I was fifteen or so. My short stories have appeared in a number of magazines over the last ten years, mostly---and most happily---in the New Yorker. I worked on "The "Catcher in the Rye,' on and off, for ten years" (Twentieth Century Authors). "Remarkable and absorb-ing . . . profoundly moving . . . magic," Harrison Smith called this story. The Catcher has been an extremely popular book among young people ever since its appearance and has brought Salinger an international reputation. Franny and Zooey (1961) is composed of two long New Yorker stories, which appeared in 1955 and 1957, recording a significant weekend in the lives of Franny Glass, a troubled 20-year-old college student, and her brother Zooey, a television actor. Raise High the Roof Beam, (1963) is another story of the Glass family. There are seven Glass children, "two of whom are now dead and all of whom were child prodigies." Salinger gradually withdrew from public life and the literary scene during the 1950s. He had discovered Zen during his days in Greenwich Village after the war, and that philosophy may have encouraged his deeper immersion in meditation and writing. Unfortunately, however, Salinger's withdrawal has not led to increased creativity---at least not visibly. As of 1992, his years of seclusion since 1963 had produced only silence, and his critical reputation, which peaked in the early 1960s, has suffered accordingly. The Catcher in the Rye, however, remains a standard text in high school and college classrooms, and a loyal following of readers continues to hope for a continuation of the Glass family saga. They feel that, when and if that work is completed, it will be one of the masterworks of twentieth-century fiction. Salinger now lives a somewhat reclusive life in Cornish, New Hampshire, where he may still be writing. He has occasionally been involved in lawsuits concerning unauthorized use of his writings.

Hardcover

288 Pages, 5.75 x 8.12 x 1 IN

July 16, 1951

Little, Brown And Company

English


0316769533
9780316769532

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