The Catcher in the Rye Review

"Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God." - Holden Caulfield

I figured why wait to read this in school. I don't like assigned reading at all. So I've finished reading J.D. Salinger's teen angst masterpiece The Catcher in the Rye. Now needless to say I had a lot of expectations for this book. It's almost a book I read as a challenge, like "oh yeah, you think you can blow me away, Salinger? Bring it." I'm like that with most books, I think. But I just finished it last night (or this morning, I'm a slow reader) and upon doing so I knew I would have to do a review on it and here it is.

For those who don't have that good an idea what it is about, Catcher in the Rye follows a few days in the life of the teenage antihero Holden Caulfield. Holden is a deeply cynical, repressed, awkward, deep thinking young man (sound familiar?) There is no real arc to this story, it's just his life and how he lives it. This is also a first person narrative, so the main treat for the readers is we get the in depth, private thoughts of Holden. And believe me, he has plenty to think about. Through his often pessimistic and angsty narration, we are shown the confusion, fears, alienation, and a wealth of other thoughts that are no doubt streaming through the minds of most teenage males, or just teens in general. Can ya dig it?

What inspired me to read this more than anything was Salinger's recent death. I wanted to know if he is as great a writer as everyone claimed. I wanted to know how strongly I should feel that he is not around anymore. After reading his highly acclaimed and most renowned work, I have to say it's a damn shame. Salinger has such command of writing, such a knowledge of dialogue and stream of consciousness. I especially love how he's not trying to push a message or anything. The character of Holden is intelligent but he is by no means a wise person. The reader is supposed to be the one applying their own wisdom to the things that happen to him.

Holden was where I came to an impass. He is considered to be one of the greatest literary characters. I began reading the story and very quickly I realized that I was really annoyed by him. If you've read this you'll know and you're gonna read it you will know, Holden is always complaining about something. He sees almost everyone as phony and if someone does something he doesn't like he exaggerates like it is something "they always do" or "never do." Sometimes he places himself as inferior, other times he has amazing thoughts of granduer. He envisions himself being something of a badass a lot when in reality he is a weakling, which sometimes he admits. A lot of times he seemed emotionally detached from situations he is in or thinks about, while at others he shows a lot of emotion toward something else. There are even times when he seemed truly emotionally unstable: "then all of a sudden I started to cry." WTF? But really, honestly, the reason he was so frustrating a character for me is because, of course, he was like me. Most everything I said above about him could also be attributed to me, or maybe any teenager. It's the mark of a great character I think, one that is crafted to mirror the reader in some way. In that sense, I think Holden is probably one of the most relatable characters I've come across. He's a person. He will do things you don't like and things you do.

So yes, I'll admit it, The Catcher in the Rye is a genius book. It's a book that doesn't require much of a plot, but is good mainly because it is brilliantly written. Props to J.D. Salinger and may he rest in peace because he made something extraordinary. Love it or hate it or both, I definitely do believe it is one of the most important books a person can read.

This has been another literary review from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading.