Customer Reviews
One of the best books I have read - By: A. Lawrence, 25 Nov 2008 
This book has it alll, humour, anger & brilliant observations of life & people, that alll of us can identify with.
The book is written in such an amateur style (but salinger knows what he is doing)that one has to warm to the character immediately.
Great Book.
It's just so real - By: Zoe A., 02 Nov 2008 On a personal note, I only read this book a few months ago & I felt I could relate to a lot of what the young adolescent narrator is going through. Anyone who has been a teenager can.
Catcher in the Rye isn't a plot filled story; I wouldn't say a whole lot happens as such, but it's the way in which it's written & how the centeral character describes what he is feeling that makes this book so beautiful.
It's like you know this boy, Holden Caulfield becomes your friend as you read on. Reading the novel is like hearing a close friend telling you a story about what's been happening in their life. When it ended, I almost missed him & his dystopic views of the world; which makes me know I'll be reading it again & again.
It's upto you as the reader to decide how complex J.D Salinger's ideas for this novel were. I mean, if you want to just take the story as it is, you can, but if you want to put forward your own interpretations & symbolism of the events that take place, you can do that too & no one has the right to argue with you because no one but Salinger can say what the book is truly about. That's another thing that makes it such a personal book to every individual that reads it.
So, maybe it isn't dripping with plot twists & insanely complicated ideas, but it's such a "touchable" book, the character is so relatable & his story so understandable, that it has become one of the most captivating things I have, & very probably ever will, read.
Its such a goddamn phony world! - By: Mr. S. J. Wade, 01 Nov 2008 This book is great because Holden Caulfield is such an authentic voice & it is so funny & so sad too. Its hard to deny that most of what he says is true & hilarious for that fact. But in the end its just a bit depressing, even if his conclusions, which make you sad, are a bit wrong. Hey, Holden, (you wanna say) children are phonies too. His love for his little sister is pure (I always think she must look like Zuzu in Capra's Its a Wonderful Life), & is as touching as any in literature. And, yeah, where do the ducks go to in winter? Its a reasonable question.
The big pity is that instead of letting it stand & letting it/him speak for itself/himself, to whomever wants to listen, alll these phonies turn up & want to smash the toy to show how it works. And then they go & write their thoughts on Amazon. How phony is that? But I don't give a goddamn. Once read, never forgotten.
Overated - By: JMF, 09 Oct 2008 
Boring, over rated book.
I, like many others, was handed this book & told that it was a life changing read. It was an utter load of rubbish.
I think the people who recommend this book are suffering with a bad case of the Emperors New Clothes.
I honestly didn't understand the praise.... - By: Sibby the Cat, 25 Sep 2008 So I read it again. As such it's the only book I didn't enjoy first time round (as a sixteen year old) which I have ever reread. Rereading as a thirty year old did not change my opinion.
The book has nothing of interest to say. The inane ramblings & tirades of a cynical & bitter little rich kid do not a good novel make. Holden doesn't appear to learn anything over the course of his journey & alll I learnt over the course of 200 nauseating pages was that not alll "classics" of literature warrant their place.
