The Catcher in the Rye Hardcover – July 16, 1951

Salinger intended "Catcher in the Rye" only as an adult novel, not the teen cult classic it became. It was an assigned novel when I was in high-school English, and had a lasting and not necessarily positive effect on my personality. Like so many other teen readers, I identified with Holden Caulfield's cynicism and sense of alienation from mainstream society at that time, and it took me quite a while to get over that. Now I'm 75, and I wanted to read it again and see how I react to it as an adult.

Always a great book -son loved it and it was easy reading for the summer

J.D. Salinger published this reputed American classic in 1951, which was probably the most censored book in high schools and libraries until the mid 1980s. I'm not sure why it's considered a classic other than the fact that professors and publishers like looking for hidden meanings in each chapter. I'm not saying that I didn't like the novel, because I did enjoy it, but mainly because I think Salinger's descriptions and language usage of the late 1940s was terrific. I forgot about the word "crumby"- meaning inadequate, or "phony"- meaning pretentious. The narrator and protagonist of the novel, Holden Caulfield ( a seventeen year old boy ) uses these words a lot in his narration. And how about "flitty", or referring to people as "old" this or that? The writing in this novel is very strong, but the story is moderate at best to this reviewer. I don't see myself debating hidden meanings with anybody. I'm assuming it was censored in schools because of sexual allusions, the morality codes of the 1940s and 50s, family values and some coarse language ( very mild compared to today's language). The thing that puzzles me is the title of the book! Holden is walking through N.Y.C. and hears a little boy singing a song to himself. What's up with the title of the book? Shmoop states: "What's up indeed. The first mention we get of this mysterious catcher in this mysterious rye is when Holden overhears a little kid singing, "If a body catch a body coming through the rye." Momentarily, it makes him feel not so depressed, in part because Holden is a fan of little children, and the only things better than little children are little children who are singing." Apparently, Holden sees himself as the catcher in the rye catching the children as they fall off a cliff as he construed Robert Burns's 1796 poem. Who knows? Salinger was a kind of recluse and didn't give many interviews.The book starts off with Holden Caulfield ( our protagonist ) in a hospital in Southern California narrating the story of his previous December's adventures in Pennsylvania and N.Y.C. The reader doesn't know whether it's a mental or physical hospital. Maybe that is one of the debatable points of this book. Anyway, he is being expelled from Pencey Prep in Pennsylvania. The reader gets the feeling that this isn't the first school that he's been thrown out of. He doesn't seem to see why learning is important, doesn't get along with his teachers, or roommates, and doesn't seem to respect his very successful parents. And what does his `red hunting hat' symbolize? He heads to N.Y.C. several days before his parents will receive the letter from Pencey Prep saying that he has been expelled. In N.Y.C., he books a cheap hotel and pines about his life. He likes to drink, smoke and make an ass of himself. He contacts previous girlfriend Sally, and makes a mess of things. He constantly thinks about calling another old flame Jane, but never does. He contacts his sister Phoebe, and an old teacher Mr. Antolini. The crux of the story is what happens on his adventures in N.Y.C, and the big debate with literary scrappers is : What's up with his mental health, and what does his movements mean? As far as this reader is concerned- who cares, just read and enjoy!I wonder after reading this book if this Holden Caulfield character is really J.D. Salinger as a young man. I had the same feeling when reading John Irving's 'In One Person'. Anyway, you literary debaters, I think if you re-read page 170 you will find out how Holden Caulfield really feels about school and life: "You ought to go to a boy's school sometime. Try it sometime," I said. "It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques". Metaphorically speaking, I think Holden was literally drowning in boredom. Anyway, enough thoughts about Holden Caulfield's mental state that is being puppeteered by the cloistered J.D. Salinger! Just grab a copy and form your own opinions.

"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 (...)"J. D. Salinger is an American novelist and best known for this very book, The Catcher in the Rye, which is considered a classic of USA's literature, being in Times list of 100 best books since 1923.This book tells a rather uninteresting story of this sixteen-year-old character Holden Caulfield and his wanders through New York for a couple days, after his expulsion from his boarding school, exposing the real face of teenager's life, in which the main character is also the narrator. What is perhaps more interesting is that he has such a depressed and lonely way of life that it is almost impossible not to have anything in common with this global character, who is supposed to represent the transition from childhood to adult life.When I started reading this book, I found out that I was addicted to it, even though it had no plot at all. It really doesn't, it's just a dude telling about his life. But it is Holden who you are actually reading. I have never read, in my whole life, such a descriptive and well-developed character. You actually feel that you are reading a teenager's book who has failed in about four schools, not an intellectual like J. D. Salinger. That's probably why the book is so addictive: it's a clean and straightforward writing, which makes it feel real, a very real account. I do have a lot against writers and philosophers who are claimed to be wonderful and swell, but they can't write clearly such as Salinger does. This book may be read by anyone - in fact, it is aimed to teenagers and I do recommend them to read - and anyone who reads this book will understand what it is talking about. Some of them may not like, but they will surely get the least of it.Holden Caulfield is this teenager that wanders around New York and lives a very teenager life - don't forget this book was written in the 50's - and finds himself in the transition from child to adulthood; facing problems like an adult - and that's probably why Salinger set him alone in NY - but still with a mind of a kid. While he tries to evolve, starts to find out that everybody looks fake and lousy, but he turns out to be a complete hypocrite, which is probably the main purpose of the book.The title deserves five stars just for itself. Although you read the book until about the middle without getting where the author is trying to get you to, when Holden hears a little boy singing this song about a catcher in the rye - which he actually misspelled -, everything starts making sense. Holden flies through the book trying to find a shoulder to lean on, someone that will hold him while he's passing through his puberty, sexual life and depressing times of adolescence; and that's what he searches, even unaware of what's actually happening.While he's not getting anything that's valuable from his current relationships - which are represented by his Pencey school and his friends in there -, he goes way back to the innocence of childhood and brings back his old memories and relationships in attempt to survive the hard times that is entering the adulthood. But when he actually gets to those memories, he is not a kid anymore and his mind has changed. In this quest of finding "a catcher in the rye", Holden even unburies his dead brother Allie and contacts people who are still in their innocent times - such as his sister - and people who are really in the adulthood, like his old teachers.This transition is easily seen in every sense. From trying to drink being a minor to a massive change of his views on the world, contrasted by what he remembered things to be and what they really are right now. I highly recommend this book to anyone. This is surely one of the best - if not the best - novels I have ever read in my entire life. Although aimed to teenagers, this story is surely universal.100/100

I got this for my daughter, she was pleased to add this to her collection.

I am an older woman remembering that a college English professor said that everyone should read this book. I read as much as I could but I do not relate very well to the young college men and dropouts, much less their conversation, which I guess was notable in its time for its honesty, but not for me.