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The Catcher in the Rye (平装)
by J. D. Salinger
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Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 98.00
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
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Sean (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
A cult classic, Catcher in the Rye has captured the imagination of countless adolescents, school teachers, and even one Mark David Chapman, the assassin of John Lennon. It has also been reviled, refuted, and banished from school reading lists since its publication in 1951. So what's the big deal?
It's understandable that by 1950s standards this book may have been controversial, given its profanity and sexual underpinnings, although that is mild by today's standards. However, these give the book an edge, and an extra dimension that helps catapult this book to the top of the list of classics. Salinger presents the story of an adolescent, Holden Caulfield, and his alienation from the world he lives in. Although there is little action, Salinger convincingly paints a portrait of a tortured individual struggling with irreversible changes in his life as he grows into an adult.
Although Holden is a privileged teenager from Manhattan, his life is anything but privileged. Although he convinces himself that the world around him is full of "phonies", his total self-isolation serves as a protective barrier against the world whom he loathes. As he falls deeper into the abyss of self-pity and loneliness, it becomes apparent that a root cause of his present state of mind may be the death of his younger brother, Allie.
Holden looks longingly back at his childhood, and is determined to preserve the innocence of his younger sister, Phoebe, the only one whom he truly cares about. Indeed, his dream job would be a "catcher in the rye", one who catches children as they play in a rye field before they fall over the precipice. Symbolically, this is the precipice that separates childhood from adulthood, and the one that Holden is refusing to confront. For once he descends into adulthood, he knows that his childhood is gone forever, and his memories of Allie will become distant.
There is a good reason this novel has become a staple of high school literature classes. Although it is an easy read, it is also deep and profound. And nearly all of us could relate to at least some aspects of the story. |
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Bob (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
Holden Caulfield is one of those fictional characters whose 24 hours of this book metaphorically describes people of similar character - teenagers with terrible angst.
Whether you raised one or were one - or both - you know Holden.
Being a teenager is bad enough. Being a teenager who is kicked out of boarding school is worse. Being a teenager kicked out of school just when his brother dies is worse yet. Being a kicked-out, brotherless teenager who keeps getting into fights with the few people who like him - beloved teacher and sister - is the pits.
Just when you think he cannot get any lower, he stoops. And, all in the middle of the city where no one can be a child - NYC.
Holden Caulfield is leaving the innocence of childhood to become a man - or morphing to become what he calls a phony. And, with impressionable eyes, his observations are accurate. Unlike children, adults do not "let it all hang out." There is restraint. The restraint fails to deliver the "full truth." The failure to deliver our true feelings, to refrain from saying our opinions, to stop from depositing out $.02 - that is what makes us phonies.
And, he hates it. He wants to be the catcher in the rye when he grows up. The catcher is a mysterious person in the middle of a field which abuts a dangerous cliff - where he can prevent the children from crossing to the cliffside and falling to their demise. From losing their innocence. From losing their childhood. From becoming phonies.
In a great way, we jealously feel the same and are beholden to Holden's fervor to retain his childhood - something many of us lost years, decades, eons ago. |
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Jonathon Lourie (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
Many reviewers find this a coming of age book for adolescent males. I can see this point but I think this statement fails to indicate the multiple levels on which this amazing book plays. The book follows the journey of the confused and disillusioned 16 year old Holden Caulfield from his expulsion from prep school to his journey home. Along the way Holden meets a variety of characters which Holden discusses in his sarcastic worldly tone, which only serves to illustrate how innocent and confused Holden (and every adolescent) truly is. Through the eyes of Holden, who is caught between his childhood and manhood, J. D. Salinger captures the moment in an adolescent boy's life to which almost every boy or man can relate. But the purpose of this review is not to praise a book which has been praised up and down but to recommend a book which can capture a teenage boy's imagination and interest where other books may fail. Where as many "teen books" can be boring or deal with topics on a level which is to the say the least "boring" to an adolescent (and why not, they are written by adults), Catcher in the Rye is not preachy, stilted or artificial but hits its mark by conveying thoughts that any teenage boy will recognize and may be surprised to find that he is not alone in these thoughts. How J.D. Salinger reached back in time to pull this off is amazing. One word of warning. The book has racy parts but this does not affect this recommendation. Trying to stimulate reading in a teenage boy? Skip the science fiction and fantasy and try some reality. |
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Goldberg (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
J.D. Salinger captures teenage alienation, loneliness, and fear of coming adulthood in this superb novel of adolescence. Narrator Holden Caulfield is 16, and he's just flunked out of another prep school. Returning to his sure-to-be-disappointed parents in New York City, Holden spends the weekend in hotels and drinking in nightclubs. Holden is immature, he often lies, and he's psychologically troubled over his brother's death. But he's also cool - a likeable, kind-hearted dude who's always honest with the reader. And it's to the reader that Holden describes his fears of sex, intimacy, and belonging, not to mention his skepticism towards the status-mad adult world. Such feelings resonate with today's teens (and non-teens) as well as they did back in 1951. Just ask my niece, who recently said about Holden, "He was awesome!" |
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Jesse Van Sant (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
This was a great book, a great read. Holden Caulfield is one of the most likeable characters I've ever encountered in a book, probably because he's so honest. He tells you everything he's thinking, whether it's embarrassing or not. Most of the time what he's thinking is either hilarious, depressing, or both at the same time, but sometimes it's also pretty touching. It really is. The other thing that makes Holden so likeable is that he's a lot like me...at least, that's the way I feel about it. Probably he's a lot like most of us, if you want to know the truth. I could really identify with how dissatisfying modern life felt to Holden, how he felt like he was constantly having to jump through hoops and couldn't seem to find anything that was real and how he started to wonder if anything is ever truly worthwhile, yet also how he treasured little moments and ached to connect with other people. In fact, although The Catcher in the Rye is open to a variety of interpretations, for me it's ultimately the story of a sensitive young man struggling to connect with others in a meaningful way after the death of his brother, a brother he loved very much. To enjoy this book, then, you've just got to remember that when all is said and done, Holden Caulfield has a heart of gold. Great book. |
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An American reader (MSL quote0, USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
For a male reader in his mid-30s in 2006 The Catcher in the Rye is not a book that sparks great controversy or delivers any real shock. It is a well-written coming-of-age novel with a strong narrative voice but it is hard to see how it is managing to maintain its classic status 60 years after it first made its way into print.
Where I am perhaps being unfair is by taking the book out of its historical context. If I were a teenager reading this book in the 1940s then I would most certainly have been surprised and titillated to read someone speaking my language, understanding my fears and worries. But reading it now I cannot imagine teenagers find it that easy to relate to.
It has actually dated quite considerably and paints a picture of teenage life that bears no resemblance to that experience by 99.9% of teens today. As an historical text it is therefore very interesting but it does not pack the same punch it would have done when first published.
A curiosity then, a book all self-respecting book lovers should read but many, like me, will wonder what all the fuss is about.
(A negative review. MSL remarks.)
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
Okay, unless you live in a cave you've heard of The Catcher in the Rye. Most likely it was mentioned in hushed tones usually reserved for Events of Monumentous Occasion and Venerable Fixtures of American Popular Culture.
During my senior year in High School (1985) my English class was assigned to read this book (as every English class has been required to do since the Truman Administration). I "opted out" as it were. Years later I found a copy of this work in a thrift shop and thought I'd see what I'd missed waaaay back when. Turns out, I really was better off ditching school and going to Disneyland.
Sorry folks but this is a textbook example of Much Adoo About Nothing. The truly ironic part is that most folks who gush about The Catcher in the Rye would be excatly the kind of people Holden refers to as "phonies".
There seems to be an obligation to love this book in order to consider yourself enlightened or progressive. I can see why this act plays big on both coasts.
This was the book that ushered in the angst-ridden teenager as anti-hero that survives to this day in the form of tone-deaf Emo and Nu-Metal bands.
How the reader is supposed to have any empathy for a trust fund baby with a chip on his should escapes me. Maybe it's because I was not rich and angst-ridden as a teen.
The book itself is a tedious, read. Dull, long-winded and repetitive Caufield rambles aimlessly through what is supposed to be a couple of days but reads like 10 years. All the characters are forgettable and by the end of the book you're rooting for Holden to get run over by a taxi.
This emperor, truly, wears no clothes.
(A very negative review. MSL remarks. )
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Jim (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
No voice-driven novel compares with Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. As THE adolescent story of confusion and terror, Holden represents every child coming to grips with the sad and unavoidable realities of adulthood. It all begins with his brother Allie who died of leukemia prior to the novel's start. Holden immediately begins to notice the vapid world that his parents inhabit is not one that he wants to join. He sees no point in school, no point in friendship, no point in sex, no point in life in general. He's at a crossroads, intellectually, which his intelligence can't seem to decipher. He's almost like HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Forced to live a lie (existence), Holden breaks down much like his computer counterpart. It's a sad, touching, amazing portrayal of the same struggles most everyone goes through. That's what makes this novel so compelling. Holden asks the questions that most of us ask as teenagers and are still asking. How can the world stand by and remain unmoved by the suffering, inequities, and hypocrisies inherent in humanity? Faced with such a paradox, Holden must either come to grips with reality or shun it completely. Which will he decide? |
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1 Total 1 pages 8 items |
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