Just bought The Catcher in the Rye (suggested by my english teacher). What do you think about it?
Just bought The Catcher in the Rye (suggested by my english teacher). What do you think about it?
105 Answers
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Loading Please wait
It’s a really good book about teen angst. It’s maybe not as deep but if you’re a certain kind of sensitive person you’re really going to feel the book.
She told me it’s a good book and that it makes you think about life and that stuff (and i love this stuff).
You’ll enjoy it and Salinger’s other work
it is really a good book 🙂 check the link https://bit.ly/2BJnULw
I loved it. 🙂
When you’re done reading it go watch the Crash Course video by John Green all about this book on YouTube. Very enlightening. There is a lot of symbolism and deeper themes that you might notice at first read.
I think ill watch this too
Thank you for this tip. I watched it and it made me want to read the book again. <3
He’s so good at explaining and being entertaining!
@Nicole He is! 🙂
I loved it. It’s one of my Holy Trinities of classics.
So it must be a great book!
Holden is a giant dummy.but I love him lol
Overrated!!!!!!
So so so so overrated!!!!
How come is that?
Oh, everything! Hated the dialogue, repetitive mannerisms of the characters, it really clouded the story for me to the point I found it laborious and painful to read. But I can see why some people might love it, it’s just a love is close to hate thing for me with this book.
Eh
I really enjoyed it
ehhh you might want to punch Holden lol but it’s good
I think it’s good as long as you keep in mind the Holden is inherently an unreliable narrator. I loved it primarily because I was looking at the inherent subtext of the book. Happy reading ?
What do you mean with subtext of the book??
@Nicola a lot of the stuff that Holden says isn’t exactly what happened, so on my first read I actually looked at what Holden said and then tried to see it from the other side which lead to a really interesting understanding of what was actually happening in the book. It helped me to basically avoid solely wanting to punch Holden in the face tbh, because I found in certain situations Holden wasn’t entirely off base… just impulsive
Right
Good shows you what Holden and the world are like
I hated it.
How come?
I hated his attitude. It seemed like he tried too hard to speak “hard” and I simply did not like him. I have a rough time reading something when i don’t care about the characters. Maybe it was more relatable if read during the period in which it was written?
I don’t know, my teacher recommended it to me saying the book is a milestone for young readers.
I never read it in school. And I’m a voracious reader. I thought at age 40 it was time, lol. Nope. I finished it because it is so brief, but i lost interest less than half way thru. He’s just such a beeyoch.
I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much as I did if I hadn’t read it in high school first. I read it a second time at 25. If I was older and reading it for the first time I think I would feel like you @Kathie, but reading it when I was a teenager made me look at my peers in a different way and appreciate the “love to hate” of Holden Caulfield.
Holden Caufield is an ass… not a hero, not an anti-hero…a selfish ass. Too many hipsters glorify him.
I liked it.
I couldn’t finish it. I think it is one of those books that either you love it or you hate it
Overrated
I read it all the way through.. I never saw all the yahoo about it. But, to give it a fair chance I plan reading it again ,cause I’m in different place in life.
Check it out so you know what to look for.
Was okay! Not stellar, but okay!
Didn’t enjoy it
Didnt like it, but if teacher recommended…..
I liked it and am glad I read it before I had to for school. It was worth a second read though.
Some of you seem to appreciate it, some of you don’t.. it’s very tough to have an objective opinion?
No two readers are alike. Sometimes I like a book that everyone else hates and vice versa.
I hope you do read it. It’s short and very easy to read, & it’s a good study on themes and symbolism in literature.
Also on how to read. What’s really happening. Why does Holden see it as he does. What does the title mean ?
Loved it!
I just bought it, too. I’m hoping it’s good. I bought it because it’s mentioned over and over in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Didn’t like it… Though, the story of the author was quite interesting!
Loved it
read it at school and uni brill book
might buy it again on thurs
One of the most overrated books in history. Dull, clichéd and a waste of 3 hours of my life. But many people love it so there must be something good about it that I could not appreciate. I adore Salinger for his short stories, he was brilliant writing those.
Try it again, with some guidance until you get it.
@Barbara I have tried twice, when I was in my late teens -I think 17; my mum bought it for me- and when I took my MA in American literature three years back and no, nothing there for me. But I will follow your advice and attempt for a third time, why not? 🙂
@Yurena good. Et some guidance. You can ask me anything about the book.
Barbara Leeds Simons I don’t think it is a case of having guidance or not -after all I have a MA in Lit so I do have some experience on literary criticism- the novel is massively overrated as many others in British & American literature -or from other countries such as Don Quixote, the Spanish one- If I remember well it was Jonathan Yardley -who won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism- who called The Catcher in the Rye phony, calculated and one of the two worst works of fiction in America -the other being a Hemingway novel whose name escapes me right now; another writer who wrote awful novels in my opinion- It is substandard work imho. I will read it again as I said but more out of curiosity to see if I can find something minimally good in it. I doubt it, to be honest with you. We have to agree to disagree 🙂
OK. I agree about Hemingway. Many, but not all are outdated, but his style is brilliant. Holden, having a physical and emotional breakdown, trying to keep kids from losing their innocence, the beauty of the baseball glove and Phoebe, the realization that he can’t be the catcher in the rye. Well….
Loved it, wrote essays about it every year of high school, and for my AP exam (got a 4)
Super angsty, slightly annoying, but overall a great read. Holden Caulfield is a “love to have” character and really made me look at my peers differently.
I loved it. It was the only one on the required history reading list I liked that my teacher made up.
I liked it, but made me want to shoot Reagen
It was John Lennon. The nut who shot Reagan did it for Jodi Forster.
Didn’t they found a copy on him too?
One of my favorite books!!!!
Loved it.
One of the modern classics. . By the end of Chapter l you have to know where Holden is and why and to whom he is speaking. This isn’t hard. He tells us.
2. You should understand what the world was like at that time.
3. It feeds your heart and your brain.
I love the last sentence he said. I love the teenage angst that surrounds the book and making it as the overall aura
@Ana
Yeah?
@Book no he’s having a physical and mental breakdown. Sorry, he’s not a dummy. He sees too much and can’t accept the world. But don’t believe everything means what he thinks it means.
Have it coz of the connection to the murderer of John Lennon – Mark John Chapman, as he sat down and read it after he shot Lennon
Before he shot Lennon. Chapman gave it as one of his reasons for the shooting.
Loved the book! A classic!
I tried to read long time ago, I never like it then.
Hated it. Read it in my book club in school and had a hard time… I almost didn’t go till the end
That’s my favorite book. I like the meaning of the title, I like the characters, I like the symbolism and metaphors, I like Holden Caulfield.
I had to read it 6 years ago when I was in 11th grade (I can’t believe that was 6 years ago…?) and I absolutely hated it and found it so dull.
Shite
It’s my all time favourite book ? I collect different editions and reread it about once a year
It’s one of my favorites. I have purchased many copies from loaning them out and not getting them back or lost through moves and such. I’ve read it quite a few times from middle school and now into my 30’s and always enjoy it and find new meaning
It is a deep philosophical novel. You must read it with a different sense because it doesn’t hold a proper story line. I liked this one.
Loved it!
Biggest effing waste of your time. Please try Mark Twain or Louisa May Alcott. If you are looking for 20th Century Lit try Margaret Atwood or Ursula K Le Guin. Isaac Asimov is good too.
I loved it.
Absolutely hated it. Read it in high school. Then decided to reread it, I thought maybe i was too young to appreciate it. No hated it even more. So many people sing it’s praises i don’t understand.
“So many people sings its praises I don’t understand” and lots of literary experts both sides of the Atlantic think this novel is not worth it so you are not alone @Cindy 🙂
Wasn’t that bad a book, bit I wouldn’t read it again.
I don’t like it :/
I liked it. I read it by choice as an adult
Its a wonderful coming of age story. Still love it!
..a set of an amazing sheets of paper. ♡♡♡ #holden
Was not for me at all.
I have a son named Holden. So yeah, I’m a fan. 🙂
Not sure why someone would make a mad face. Jorden Albert?
Hated it. It was awful.
Hated it!!! ???
I hated this book. I love the idea of an unreliable narrator and think it could work, it’s just that Holden is a terrible character.
Loved it
Holden is a piece of trash, I read it but hated it.
I hated the book. To much bad language for me.
I did not enjoy it. The mental illness aspect is never really addressed, and the kid is terrible (but badly needs professional help that none of the adults are getting for him).
One of my all time favorites
Didn’t enjoy it
I loved it…and I read it at 17. (63 now.) One I recently read was “Lord of the Flies.” Not sure I could have handled that at 16-17. Didn’t do really well at handling it at 63. Very dark.
I loved it. I think it is harder to connect to with later generations. It was one of the first novels of disaffected, disconnected youth and feeling alienation from society. This theme is incredibly prevalent now perhaps due to this book. But that means it could be harder to see “what the big deal is”.