The Catcher in the Rye

Note:The reviewer is an EFL learner.
I've just finished reading "The Catcher in the Rye. I think it's both interesting and sad. I checked the book reviews for "Catcher in the Rye" on Amazon and was surprised to find that there were quite some people did not appreciate "Holden" at all and many of them asked him to "Grow up," or "Get a life!"
I like Holden, and I feel sympathy for him. I assume he had reasons to have become what he was like. Most of us had troubled mind with a lot of crazy notions going on when we were young. I mean, come on, when we were younger, hadn't we doubted all those "sit and listen" and wondered if it worth all the struggling being a decent adolescent? And I guess that is one thing "phony" of most adults. They think they know what is right for you. And they seem to accuse you of being immature or ungrateful when you do not follow their "guidance" or "assignmenth. Gratefulness and maturity and something like that are, in most cases, acquired and maybe learned. So I think it's just so true and real of Salingerfs portray of a sixteen Holden Caulfield, sad and angry.
The adult world/ real world was too complicated for Holden. There were a lot in the real world he did not understand. ---Why did Allie have to die? Why should he care about life? Why did Mr. Antonlini do it? And that was probably why Holden wanted to be nothing but gthe catcher in the ryeh. He liked children, they are not complicated and malicious and all. Holden found it easy to get along with them and understand them.
Why did Holden want so much to protect children? Why did he talk about sex yet dare not to try it? I have to say the revelation is in the book. Think about the immediate overreaction of Holden when he was woken up by Mr. Antonlinifs petting on his head. Salinger understated another chapter of Holdenfs life with "That kind of stufffs happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I canft stand it."

I thought this book was entertaining but I didn't get the sense it should have gained all the notoriety that it has. My thoughts when I finished it and put it down was that it must have been written during a period when few other great writes were being written and thus found it's way to the fore front.

Writes on similar subjects as far as finding one's way that I think far surpass this are Keep The Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell, Border Music by Robert James Waller and Damages by Bazhe...

It's entertaining and definitely a worthy read but I think the cult status it has achieved is based largely on it's name.

Which I agree is a fantastic title for a book...

I wouldn't give it less than a four but if you read the above books I mentioned and compare them in literary quality I think you will understand why...

The other books aren't so much about coming of age mind you as a teenager but they are about finding out who you are and this one in my opinion ranks behind all three that I mentioned although again, it is a good read...

Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

I've always adored this book- some complain that nothing really happens in the prose but the truth is this book is loaded with the type of symbolism that almost anyone can relate to. I read in high school (forced to in fact) and thought of it as fair but then when I came back to it as an adult, I found a lot more love. I think it works best when it is read as an adult looking back on life (rather than while it is happening to a person- which is why so many school kids don't like it). If you, like me, love this book and want to read something that manages to capture a bit of the magic here try Jason Rider's A Space Between.

This is true literature!

"The Catcher In The Rye" had always been shorthanded to me as a classic "coming of age" book, involving teenage angst and alienation. (It is, perhaps, a "classic" in the sense that Britney Spears is a "star.") Having recently read the book for the first time, I discovered (regrettably, too late) that I had been misinformed. It is not at all about a young man coming of age, beset by archetypical teenage angst and alienation; it is about mental illness. I also suspect it is autobiographical, and so do not blame Mr. Salinger for the book's lamentable lack of any literary merit. I fear, rather, that in the writing of it he simply could not help himself.

Although is book was written in 1951, but is still speak the hearth of typical teenager. Seventeenth or for anyone that whose feel they need to escape from their normal life and to go explore the wild side. Once this boy step into the wood; can he choices to stay or will he be able to find his way out without losing a part of him? I enjoyed he's journey very well.