Book #36 in 2012
The Catcher in the Rye
by J. D. Salinger
"The hero-narrator of
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New
Yorker named Holden Caulfield. Through circumstances that tend to
preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in
Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The
boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any
final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can
say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly
attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it. There are
many voices in this novel: children's voices, adult voices, underground
voices-but Holden's voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his
own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a
perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most
lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the
pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside,
with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to
keep."
October 14th to 19th - 6 days - 277 pages
Notes:
I loved this book.
John Green talks about The Catcher in the Rye:
Part 2:
