The Catcher in the Rye

The story felt real — confused, lonely, and trying to make sense of a world that didn’t feel right. The Catcher in the Rye hits deep if you’ve ever felt a little lost growing up.

Good book. A classic one at that! Definitely a must read...

My 13 year old son love reading this. The first book he actually enjoyed reading. So happy.

The catcher in the rye is the first and last novel of J.D Salinger, originally published in 1951. The story is about a 16 year old teenager, Holden Caulfield, who gets expelled from his school Pencey and not wanting to go home, he stays outside and wanders along, trying to fit in the adult world. But through his endeavors, he realizes the hypocrisy of it and ends up being exhausted and emotionally unstable. The story details his life in two days and in these 2 days, we come to meet a lot of characters with whom Caulfield has to deal with. Though he mixes up well with everyone, he finds it difficult to make friends and like anyone from his heart. Everything and everyone is phony, according to him and amidst this 'phoniness', he finds himself lost and depressed. One thing to note, he didn't get depressed 'After' being exposed to the real world, rather he has been depressed since his brother Allie died and over the years, he started to question his existence. I really liked the way teenage angst is shown through a language, very raw and informal. The interior monologues of Holden, are described to well, it felt so real and like living the story, feeling the pain and the angst of him. I also liked the character of his sister Phoebe who is a little kid of 10 year old and is more mature than Holden himself is. She understands him well and listens to his problems. Holden talks more when she is with him and it was her who played a major role in bringing back the lost self of Holden. (to some extent?) This book has some major themes including the alienation, fragmentation, lost innocence and hypocrisy of post modern times that Salinger has beautifully captured. Highly, recommended💓 "That's the whole trouble. You can't even find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody will sneak up and write "f*ck you' right under your nose."

It's pretty. But the book came with a few marks on the edges, and the font is too small for this version.

Read a sensitive novel after so long. The book is amazing and connects to us emotionally. Holden is not feeling emotionally ready for anything. And we find that we have also felt the same at some point in our lives. The vividness with which he explains each and every person he has ever interacted with is very true, very deep and very close to reality. The foggy things that goes in our mind, Holden speaks them out and is no where far from from real and that is why we understand what he goes through in those 3 days. Throughout the book I find Holden to be clearly suffering from depression, which he himself mentions quite a few times. What he needs is someone to support him in every decision he makes and that is why I think Phoebe calms him down. He is 12 and it might also be signs of coming-of-age. But what he needs is quiet listener and a blind supporter who believes that he will get it through. I love this novel for so many reasons.

This book is simply grand, in my opinion. The author has beautifully, skillfully portrayed the mental picture of a teenager, a habitual school dropout. The story occupies a period of roughly two days (less).It is told through the mouth of the protagonist himself.The author has employed the appropriate kind of slang and verbal nuances that teenagers are addicted to, and thereby has created an memorable character.The book is not a thriller,nor an action-story; so one has to read it slowly, savoring it page by page.The teenager is mentally disturbed, unadjusted to society, filled with depression, self-doubt, compulsive behavior, aimlessness and so on. It is terrible to go on reading the pages describing how he goes on wandering from place to place. But the saving grace is that he is really intelligent and sensitive at heart. When everything seems dark and absolutely hopeless to him, suddenly, the interaction with his kid sister transforms him. The scene is very touching. The reader may start with a feeling of aversion on reading the initial chapters. But as the story proceeds he will empathize with the teenager in the end. Finally one is sure to exhale a sigh of relief when the boy meets his kid sister and gets changed. This is a really great book with a unique style.

A random fella admired it on YouTube saying that this is one of the seven must read books you oughtta read before U die! So I read it. And I didn't regret it. It's corny, heart warming, simple, spontaneous and straight. Yes you will identify with Golden Caulfield, that I bet. It take guts to write stuff like this. I felt this is his own life story, a peek! JD Salinger, yes.