Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 3001
 Excellent read July 30, 2010
Gaijin de Moscu (Geneva)
I was left puzzled after reading the book, which isn't surprising. It's quite a confused book.
Having digested it a little though, I do believe it's excellent. The things I loved are exactly the ones which annoy some other reviewers:
- No visible plot. The main character sort of lives his days, doing stupid things and fretting about them. I found that very charming.
- The silly teenage language from the late 40'es / early 50'es. It annoyed me at first, but then I enjoyed it.
- The whiny narrative. Yep, it was a bit over the top whiny; but I thought it was compensated by the inspired passages that were observant and kind. In fact, the narrative left me feeling the guy may have loved the people he claimed to 'hate'.
- The repetitiveness of some key themes and thoughts. I found it very natural.
Separately, the characterization was breathtaking, I thought. Maybe Salinger was doing a bit too much of it (e.g. characterizing the taxi drivers and random kids in the museum), but I could feel he was having fun with it and it did come out very well.
Maybe it's just me. I love the non-linear, honest stories like this, that don't drive a specific 'plot', but rather explore a person.
 Let this one go over the cliff... July 25, 2010
Brian Page (Phoenix)
Maybe this story has simply become dated over the years because it didn't have the impact on me that I expected. This certainly isn't on the level of Huck Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird, Life of Pi, nor even The Tale Of Depereaux, but it is different than anything else I've read. Perhaps the appeal of this book is that it's written from the perspective of a teenager, in stylized teenaged writing, about teenaged issues. This could be one of those books that appeals more to a specific audience of those going through puberty than it does to the general reader. Still, Holden Caulfield seems like more of a whiner than a cynical adolescent to me.
Reading this book is like being stuck in an elevator with a sixteen year old boy for the duration. It might make for a good psychological study of that particular insanity that teenagers go through as their brains develop in the presence of an overdose of hormones, but as a story it lacks a plot. This is about a kid wandering aimlessly through his life, such as it is, both literally and existentially. It could theoretically give aid and comfort to those teens in a similar situation, but I can't imagine it helping me much when I was that age. The main character is supposed to be a young radical, smoking and drinking despite being underage, but it all seems much too tame in these modern times.
I suppose that the moral of the story is supposed to be that everyone undergoes these psychotic teenage episodes, even the preppies. However, this point is made in a monotonous, rather repetitious and boring manner as our young angster wanders about NYC looking to rutt, having just been kicked out of yet another fancy boarding school. If the rich kids have these same problems then maybe we should all stop feeling sorry for ourselves and think about poor Richard Cory. It's all just a little too ham-handed for me and it really bothers those kids who really were cool and all to have to listen to those who just think they are. Sometimes I just say crazy stuff like that, I'm a madman sometimes, I really am.
 Good book but not for kids July 23, 2010
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm not really a kid but I'm writing this review through a family members account & I don't want their name on here.
I've got 5 brothers, they all say they had to read this book for school (4 had to read it in junior high, one read it in high school).
I didn't have to read it for school but happened to come across it on a vacation & ended up reading it on the plane ride home.
This book is very good & entertaining, however, while reading it I could not think of why a school would feel that it is appropriate for kids to be reading for a report.
I would never let my kids read this book while living under my roof (yea yea, I know, you can't stop your kids from doing stuff but in an ideal world where this was possible, I would never let them read it).
For an adult that wants to somewhat relive their childhood, give it a try.
While the character is very hateful & kind of an ass, some stuff he goes through is stuff most people go through so it may bring back a memory or two.
I liked this book for the plane ride but don't think I'd ever want to read it again. The character was too much of an ass & I'd rather not 'see' him again.
James Dean as Holden Caulfield July 18, 2010
A. Knapp (USA)
Since there are so many reviews already recorded here, I just want to say how cool it would have been if a movie version would have been made for Catcher, and if James Dean would have played the title character, Holden Caulfield. And yes, I do highly recommend this coming-of-age classic.
 This is a classic?! July 16, 2010
Amaya (Nowhere)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I absolutely hated this book. There is no plot. At all. I've heard it's supposed to be a great coming-of-age story, but to me, it didn't seem like the main character changed at all. Holden Caulfield remains annoying, whiny, and obsessed with cussing and the word "phony". If I hadn't been graded on reading it, I wouldn't have even read past the first few pages. Personally, I can't understand how this book ever got to be a classic.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 3001
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