The Catcher in the Rye

Disclaimer

The Catcher in the Rye is a celebrated and well-acknowledged Classic. So, I don’t want to review the same. Instead, I would like to express what the book made me feel and think.

As per Goodreards

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 sixteen-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 hemorrhages 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.

Author

Jerome David Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield was influential, especially among adolescent readers. The novel remains widely read and controversial, selling around 250,000 copies a year.

What I think

Some books entertain you, makes you laugh and thus, helps in killing time. Some makes you think. The Catcher in the Rye does both.

Holden Caulfield is a confused teenager who us reluctant to grow up. He fails miserably in tests and is expelled from school. The book is all about a couple of days after the expulsion but, before going back to his home. It is about his thoughts and perceptions. He digresses a lot and uses swear words a lot. But, the way Holden thinks is pure and uncorrupted. He is also lonely and depressed. He loves his little sister Phoebe beyond himself.

There are several laugh aloud moments and thought provoking ones too. The dichotomy between innocence of children and the selfishness of adults is well-reflected in the book.

The book was first published in 1951 and it still holds relevant.

In short

Boy, the book killed me.

Don’t miss it!

Rating

4/5

Thank you

My dear colleague - my friend.

Thanks for introducing Holden to me… who made me laugh and think at the same time.

“I don’t exactly know what I mean by that but, I mean it!” (J.D. Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye)

Some words that stole my heart

·         "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."

·         “I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead."

·         "Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules."