Rating: ★★★★★
Links: TBD • Amazon • Goodreads
Publication Date: July 16, 1951
Source: Purchased
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.
J.D. Salinger’s classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time‘s 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950’s and 60’s it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.
Sometimes I think it’s easier to write a negative review than it is to write a positive one. Don’t even get me started on a book I hated. I can talk for hours about everything that’s wrong with a book, but when it comes to a book I loved, I almost always draw a blank. I mean, how am I supposed to put into words everything that I loved about this book? I’ve reviewed close to 600 books over the years, but today, I seem to have forgotten how.
Maybe I should start by saying that I last read this book back in (probably) 2006 when I was a teenager with bad taste. I say “a teenager with bad taste” because, let’s be honest, I thought Twilight was the best thing I’d ever read and I was unimpressed with this book. Thankfully, Daniel asked me if I wanted to do a buddy re-read of The Catcher in the Rye and I said yes. It ended up being a great decision all around. I’d like to issue a formal apology to J.D. Salinger for all of the years I spent thinking I didn’t really like this book. I was wrong.
Why do I love Holden so much? I don’t remember thinking anything about him the first time, but he’s pretty much my favorite literary character ever right now. I love his sarcasm, I love his exaggerations, and I love how honest he is. I love how much he loves his sister. I love how he talks about Jane. I love how he sits down with a couple nuns in a train station and discusses Romeo and Juliet. All I want is to give him a hug and tell him that everything is going to be okay.
Some quotes:
- “I’m pretty sure he yelled ‘Good luck!’ at me. I hope not. I hope to hell not. I’d never yell ‘Good luck!’ at anybody. It sounds terrible, when you think about it.”
- “He was one of those guys that think they’re being a pansy if they don’t break around forty of your fingers when they shake hands with you.”
- “What I think is, you’re supposed to leave somebody alone if he’s at least being interesting and he’s getting all excited about something. I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It’s nice.”
- “Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone.”
- “People are mostly hot to have a discussion when you’re not.”
- “Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
I don’t think there’s actually anything about this book that I didn’t like.
Have you read The Catcher in the Rye? Do you love it or hate it?
Let’s talk in the comments!
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Agreed, Sara! I loved Holden, too, and it is pretty much the perfect book! I read it first in high school also, and I didn’t get it all either. Thank goodness for rereads Loved your quotes and review!
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I so rarely reread anything and now I feel like I should do it more often! There are probably a ton of books that I think I don’t like that are actually very good!
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Same- I’m not much of a rereader, but I think about it, especially for the books I’ve loved! I need to make the time for it.
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I tend to get distracted by new books and so I put off rereading unless I have an actual reason to do it. I need to make the time for it too.
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Yes, the lure of new books always gets me! It’s like dangling a carrot. 😊
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Lovely review ♥♥
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Thank you! 💕
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I read it probably around the same time you did–10 years ago or so–and wasn’t overly impressed. After reading this review, I’m going to give it another chance.
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I hope you have the same experience I did! I felt totally different this time around and I knew from the first few pages that I would love it.
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I’m so happy you love this book too! It’s so polarizing. I’ve always found Holden such a sympathetic character. If you want to read something that I think is a really good follow up to this story, I highly recommend Franny & Zooey. It’s a book I feel like Holden would have benefited from reading.
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I actually bought Franny & Zooey years ago and I can’t find it! I’m hoping there’s a box of books in my garage that I’ve forgotten to unpack. It takes place in my town, so that’s another reason I want to read it.
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Great selection of quotes! I admit I’m kind of hesitant to touch this because I typically get bored reading ‘classics’. Catcher in the Rye seems to have a distinctly modern bent though. Would you recommend it?
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The voice in this novel is very much ahead of its time, in my opinion. I feel like this novel very much teeters on the edge and doesn’t fall into either the “modern” or “pos-modern” era, and I feel that teetering makes Holden’s voice as it is – completely real and ageless.
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Thanks! And I would definitely recommend it! I don’t usually do well with classics either, but this doesn’t feel like a classic when you’re reading it.
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I loved Catcher in the Rye. I really felt Holden’s angst. His love for his sister is so sweet and pure.
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I’m so happy to hear that you loved this one too! ❤ Holden's relationship with his sister was one of my favorite parts of the book.
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Thanks Sara! You just changed my point of view towards the book. I have being reading this book lately and to be honest I did not find it very engrossing. But after reading this it surely has given a new direction to my perspective
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I’m happy to hear that! I hope that you end up really liking it! 🙂
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Amazing review, Sara
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Thank you! And thanks again for suggesting the buddy read!!
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Always!
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This is literally my favourite book I have ever read. I must of re-read it 10-15x since school. I totally get what you mean about trying to explain it in a positive way, I have been asked so many times why it is my favourite book and I just say because its great I can never explain in words why I love it so much! Loved your review 🤗📚
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Thank you so much, and I’m happy to hear that you love this one too ❤
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Haven’t read this one yet, but it’s on my mile-long list of responsible books I need to read. By the way, I totally identify with over-emphasizing the wrong books as a teenager. I’m still mostly horrified by how much I advertised Twilight to literally everyone around me. A guy friend I had read it because I basically forced him, and in return, I read his favorite (Good Omens) which was totally lost on me. And now he probably remembers me as that crazy Twilight girl.
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Haha, I’m sure some of my friends remember me as a crazy Twilight girl too. I remember making my friend Andy read it and him just looking at me like I was crazy.
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Ridiculous as it seems, a kid like me read this one, and wrote a review on my blog. But it was a good book anyway. Deep as the ocean.
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It’s such a good book! I’m glad you liked it too! 🙂
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