| | The Catcher in the Rye |  | Author: J. D. Salinger
Publisher: Franklin Watts
Category: Book
Buy Used: £7.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  246 reviews
Media: School & Library Binding
Edition: Lrg
ISBN: 0531001725
EAN: 9780531001721
ASIN: 0531001725
Publication Date: June 1973
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: We dispatch within two business days from the U.S.
|
| Customer Reviews:
The Catcher In the Rye - J.D Salinger July 13, 2008
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, a young man who is coming to terms with the world around him, after being excluded from school in the cold mid winter of east coast America. 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 teenage tounge of 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.
Not a Teenage boy - but i loved it. June 13, 2008
I adored this book. I didn;t have to read it for School at any point, and no one ever told me i should read it to better myself, but still i found myself drawn to Catcher in the Rye as i was to the Bell Jar, and Girl Interupted, it is fascinating to view a persons internal nuerosis in the way that Holden shows his own.
Holdens contempt and indifference to everything is amazing, even Phoebe bugs him at times, here we have someon totally detatched from himself, he does not really care that he is wandering around New York bruised and bloodied, and amazingly - no one mentions it to him??! I wonder how much of what Holden says happened for real and what was Gory self glorification of his own situation?
I read the modern American print and my only critism was the final extract, where he talks of D.B visiting occasionally and being Psychoanlaysed and we presume he is in some institution - i felt that was too obvious, it wasn't required really, we knew that when Phoebe finished on the Carasol that Holdens parents would find out, Mr Antolini would say how he had flitted out in the night, Pensey would tell how long he has been unaccountable for and the whole story would be unravelled to his parents and we know that his personality (split personality maybe?) will be uncovered - which is why the last scene is too obvious, i didn't need to read it, i had already concluded it, it was just a last attempt of the Author trying to 'own' the story over the reader & interpreter (which i hate it when Authers do that!!)
Apart from that it is a fantastically written, engaging piece, you could read it in a day!
 Is it just me? June 3, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
I know that this book is supposed to be one of the classics, and I understand how observation of human nature is very interesting etc. What I don't understand is why everyone raves about The Catcher in the Rye- I think maybe I am just missing the point.
I say each to their own- read it and make your own mind up.
 It's a shame there are not six stars May 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Salinger's The catcher in the Rye is the perfect American Novel. Houlden is a bitter angry, confussed young man, of 16 years old. I read this book as a bitter, angry and confussed 16 year old young man and understood his point of view perfctly, he was telling the truth. I reread the book four year later and still saw his point of view but wanted to help him understand life. I read the book again at 24 and now i work with bitter angry confussed 16 year old and help the, try to come to terms with life, ad understand their world. I cant wait to read it again when i'm 28 and re-interperate this brilliant book again, Read it then later in life read it again and keep doing that every few years because it is a six star book
Catcher in the Rye goes On the Road! May 26, 2008
2 out of 10 found this review helpful
Like Kerouac's "On the Road", this book (Catcher in the Rye) is mindless drivel-less so than On the Road, to its credit of course, but nevertheless, the same unrelenting boring monotony of a monologue from some moron who believes the daily events in his life will have a major life changing impact on people who read about them.
This person, the author, and anyone who reads this and thinks it even average, is suffering from delusions of adequacy, and I can recommend very effective psychiatric medication, if anyone would care to contact me................!!
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
