Author: JD Salinger
Format: Hardback
Subject: Coming of Age
Rating: 6/10
Summary:
The Catcher in the Rye is a well known American classic. I am quite sure this book was assigned reading at some point during my high school education. However, I never got around to reading it until now. I found the method of storytelling to be pretty difficult to read. The protagonist, Holden, generally rambled and skipped from topic to topic at random. Also, the overall plot is pretty thin. However, the book is loaded with symbolism, so I understand why so many book lovers and academics love it.
I tolerated the novel as opposed to loving it. And, the thin plot and ending are quite anti-climatic. To be fair, I read this book in my late thirties as opposed to reading it in high school. But, I doubt I would have enjoyed this book much more if I had read it when I was sixteen years old. Having said that, I am certainly happy I have read it and have a better understanding of “what all the fuss was about.”
Favorite Quotes:
“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.” Holden
“I don’t exactly know what I mean by that, but I mean it.” Holden
“If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t rub out even half the ‘Fuck You’ signs in the world. It’s impossible.” Holden
“The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” Mr. Antolini