The Catcher in the Rye (edit title)

• Rated 3 stars

“This book is good because it’s bad, it’s bad because it’s depressing, nothing happens, nothing will ever happen and that’s the point. I, like many others, read to escape, to laugh, to cry, to feel and that is what Holden would call “phony” just like the movie goers in the book. The majority of us live our lives abiding by the law, we will never travel through time, never work for the secret service, kill for love, avenge the death of a loved one, travel across Europe deciphering hidden symbols etc. We will, however, at some point, wish to run away, have hated the people around us, thought all of society as “phony” and “conceited” , lied to make our lives seem more interesting, wondered why we work in jobs we hate for crap we don’t need.
It is a good book and I am glad that I have read it, but I’ve only given it three stars because I am phony.”

• Rated 4 stars

“It has been a long times since I read it, but I remember really liking it.”

• Rated 2 stars

“I was not a big fan of the book. I read it because I never had to in school and wanted to see what the big fus was about but found it uninteresting. Sorry for those who like it, I do see how some can, but not my cup of tea”

• Rated 4 stars

“Loved the narration”

• Rated 4 stars

“One of my favorite books I read in High School.”

• Rated 5 stars

“relates to my life. Not so much Holden, but I know this chick just like the prostitute Sunny.”

• Rated 1 stars

“Never read this book in hgh school and wondered what it was about. What a stupid book! I can't believe English teachers ever taught this one. (I understand they don't teach it much any more, thank heavens.) Written in the 1940s when written profanity was a novelty in books, this story about a stupid teenager is boring beyond belief.
Avoid this at all costs.”

• Rated 2 stars

“What a shame!

I didn't enjoy this book at all, i'm certain if Holden Caulfield (the main character in the book) was writing this review he'd add the words "I really didn't" after (as he seems to after every bloody sentance in the whole book)

My wife loves this book but I cannot for the life of me see why, nor can I see why it is hailed as a 'classic'

Holden Caulfield is a boring, spolit, moaning, whining, miserable, arrogant, ignorant idiotic, pathetic loser who got on my nerves so much by halfway through the book I wished he stepped out in front of a car to end his miserable existance.

He hates everyone and everything he encounters, he does nothing for 192 pages but go on and on and on about how much everything sucks. His favourite descriptive words and says are; "moron" "Jerk" "bastard" "Damn" "pain in the ass" "phony" "crumby" "Goddamn" these words crop up again and again all the time till you can't take it anymore. The author should have employed a thesaurus when writing it.

Hes 17 going on 7 and thinks everyone else is at fault for all the bad things that happen to him when in reality he is his own worst enemy. His irrational, often pointless, stupid and coarse behaviour always ends in humiliation for him (one reaccuring theme is that he goes into a bar and tries to order and alcoholic drink only to be refused because he isn't old enough)

To give you an example of the constant moaning a very typical paragraph in the book usually runs something along these lines:

"He was one of these very, very tall, round-shouldered guys - he was about six foot four with lousy teeth. The whole time he roomed next to me, I never even once saw him brush his teeth. They always looked mossy and awful, and he damn near made you sick if you saw him in the dining room with his mouth full of mashed potatoes...he had alot of pimples. Not just on his forehead or his chin like most guys but all over his whole face and not only that he had a terrible personality"

After reading it for an hour I started to feel depressed because hes always whinging about something...about a third of the way through the book Holden says "What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide" I really wished he had, the book would have been shorter then!

The only reason this got two stars instead of one is that initially (the first 30 pages or so) I actually enjoyed the book and it gave me a few good laughs. I am a terrible moaner myself (but Holden is the king of moaners!) but even so I found his attitude excessively miserable. The trouble with it is that this book is a one trick pony. It is a non-stop near 200 page rant about nothing at all and after a while it starts to get you down. Nothing much happens in this book which doesn't make for an entertaining read.

Apparently it is hailed as a classic as it is full of hidden meanings but it seems, for me anyway, the meaning is so well hidden that I can't see it at all.



”

• Rated 5 stars

“Young Holden Caulfied ditches out of prep school and embarks on a several day journey around New York learning about himself on the way. All he really wanted out of life was to be "the catcher in the rye" (his misinterpretation of an old poem). Filled with humor but also many deeper aspects it is a quick but unforgettable read.”

• Rated 3 stars

“This book is good because it’s bad, it’s bad because it’s depressing, nothing happens, nothing will ever happen and that’s the point. I, like many others, read to escape, to laugh, to cry, to feel and that is what Holden would call “phony” just like the movie goers in the book. The majority of us live our lives abiding by the law, we will never travel through time, never work for the secret service, kill for love, avenge the death of a loved one, travel across Europe deciphering hidden symbols etc. We will, however, at some point, wish to run away, have hated the people around us, thought all of society as “phony” and “conceited” , lied to make our lives seem more interesting, wondered why we work in jobs we hate for crap we don’t need.
It is a good book and I am glad that I have read it, but I’ve only given it three stars because I am phony.
”