If you have never read “The Catcher in the Rye” before, one may think that the book is a sophisticated piece of fiction that should be classified in the same category as celebrated 19th century stories. It should surely be a difficult to read yet highly insightful body of work. Even if not everyone thinks these things, it is certainly what I thought when I first decided to read “The Catcher in the Rye”. However, my preassumed opinions of the book were quickly ruined when the very first paragraph was written as a teenager complaining. This guy was complaining about his parents being “touchy as hell” and his brother being a supposed prostitute.
The book takes place over the course of two days in the life of Holden Caufield. He comes from a rich family and has been kicked out of a posh private school once again and has to face his soon to be angry parents. With some time to kill and no want to finish any obligations at the school, he decides to roam the streets of New York City. His whole experience in these two days are told continuously. No locational or time details are skipped. He is only 16, yet attempts to act older by going into bars, ordering drinks, and even getting a prostitute into his hotel room. Often, people comment on how young he looks or refuses to serve him alcohol.
I would say that the best way to describe the writing style J. D. Salinger used would be “faithful”. The way he portrays Caufield would be of a typical, yet overly bitter, young person. Holden Caufield is constantly talking about how he does not like other people or how he thinks many things are stupid. I thought this constant throughout the book would become tiresome, but I did not find this to be the case. In addition to this level of realism, the book is written in the style of the teenager spoken word of the era, which I would think to be pretty uncommon to be seen from books written at the same time.
Judging the book on entertainment value, I thought the book was quite funny. There were some lines that Holden says in the book that were pretty clever and funny. In terms of striking societal commentary with a deep meaning: didn’t really find that with this book. The actual mention of “the Catcher in the Rye” only appears in exactly one chapter. You learn about exactly what that means, but I couldn’t quite see if that theme was present throughout the whole book. Maybe I would have to do a re-reading or maybe I am too young to fully appreciate the meaning.
Overall, A good fiction book about a relevant topic that many people can relate to.