I read the Book THE CATCHER IN THE RYE in 1951 years ago. It was written by J.D. Salinger. It was republished in 2002. I have the paperback Book and it has 277 pages.
MY REVIEW:
This Book is narrated by a Man named Holden Caulfield. His word touched me as he goes from being absurd to being very funny.
The Book begins with Holden Caulfield, (who is seventeen years old), in a Mental Hospital in Southern California. He is about to tell us about a remarkable 48 hours that happened in the last December.
The Book then flashbacks to what is in his mind to when he was sixteen years old and expelled from School because he did not study enough to keep up his grades. This is not the first time it happened because he has been expelled from many Schools, (for the same reason).
We now are at the Pencey Prep School where he was the Manager of the Fencing Team. While he was going to the School, (riding the Subway), he loses all of the Team’s equipment.
His Parents don’t know that he has been expelled again, (because they won’t get the letter for a few days), for fighting with his roommate.
He knows that his Parents won’t be happy to see him back at their House in New York City. He decides not to go Home but to stay at a cheap Hotel.
He beings to travel to many places in NYC, (ie: Central Park, Grand Central Station, Greenwich Village and The Museum of Natural History). He described where ever he has been.
He meets a lot of People on his journey across the City. Some of them are his Phoebe, (his younger Sister), Salley Hayes, (a Girl he use to know), his English Teacher Mr. Antolini, Carl Luce, (a Friend), a ’’Lady of the Night’’, a lot of Taxi Cab Drivers and two Nuns.
There is a lot more to this Book than what I just told you about. What is the ’’Rye’’? I never tell the entire plot because it might ruin the Book for the People who haven’t read it yet.
THERE ARE LIFE LESSONS TO BE LEARNED:
1) It might be hard to always be yourself instead of always following the crowd but it’s better to be the person G-d wanted you to be, (a unique individual).
2) Stay in School and study to get good grades. If you don’t you will wander through life like Holden Caulfield wandered through NYC. He was cut off from his Family and Friends and left behind by his many Classmates.
3) When a person is cut off from their support system they become depressed and may end up in a Mental Hospital.
THE AUTHOR:
’’J.D.Salinger was born in NYC, (in the Manhattan district), in 1919. He went to School at the Valley Forge Military Academy. During WWII he took part in the invasion of Normandy, (during D-Day).
After WWII he went to the Columbia University in NYC. He began his writing Career by writing thirty-five short Stories. The ’’Catcher in the Rye’’ was his first Book. The others are ’’Franny and Zooey, (1961), ’’Raise High the Roof Beam’’ and ’’Carpenter and Seymour: An Introduction’’, (both of the last two were published in 1963).’’
MY THOUGHTS:
If you don’t like to read a Book that uses a lot of foul language this Book isn’t for you.
If you don’t know the slang that teenagers used in the 1950’s you might not be able to understand many parts of this Book.
I thought he developed his Characters well and he wrote about why he liked or did not like them.
He is a brilliant writer and if you haven’t read this Book yet I highly recommend it.
The Book cost me $12.00 CAD.ISBN# 0316769177
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©LL2003