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I read The Catcher in the Rye a couple of years back to
figure out why a lot of people were going on about it. It's considered a
classic, written in 1951. Last week I was looking for a new book to read and I
decided to re-read it. Best. Idea. Ever.
The first time I read it, I couldn't get into it but this
time I was telling myself that I missed out on so much! Granted, it won't be
everyone's cup of tea but I love this book so much I just had to hop on here
and write a book review about it, in hopes that you may read it too if you
haven't already.
The Catcher in the Rye follows 17 year old Holden Caulfield,
a rebellious teenager who practically hates everything. The book is written in
Holden's point of view as if he's addressing you as the reader while he retells
the events that happened to him over a three day period.
J.D Salinger writes in such a way that makes Holden seem
like a great storyteller as the story seems like one long flashback but with
present events being included.
The story is marvelously intriguing. At first, you'd like to
hate Holden; he is not written as a likeable character but he is 'real'; Holden
is a brutally honest, vulgar character with a penchant for sarcasm and
exaggeration which makes for humourous reading.
As the reader, you get to get in Holden's head and
consequently, his life. Though he seems to love telling stories, he isn't
really telling the whole story and it's up to you, the reader, to read between
the lines and figure it out for yourself and once you do, it'll hit you like a
ton of bricks.
I found the book intriguing, funny and heartbreaking. Boy,
it killed me. No kidding. (Ha!). There were some parts that reminded me of an
equally excellent book, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallfower.
The Catcher in the Rye is not a long read and the ending
(for me) was a bit disappointing in that it ended so abruptly but hey once I
forgot the meagre ending I thought about the book and how it made me feel. I
got over the disappointing ending really quickly.
Though The Catcher in the Rye is listed as a coming of age
book, it is not meant for younger readers because of the vulgarity but it's
aimed at teenagers because they are most likely to relate to it and it also
offers a message of hope directed at them. I also believe young adults can
still read it and relate to it. It actually causes you to examine the world in
which we live in and how we're always forced to conform to fit in it.
Check this one of many quotes from the book that made laugh
out loud:
"And I have one of those very loud, stupid laughs. I
mean if I ever sat behind myself in a movie or something, I'd probably lean
over and tell myself to please shut up."
One more that everyone would relate to:
"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're
all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of
yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."
Oh, how I definitely wish.
Have you read the book before? I'd love to know your
thoughts about it. Actually, I want to invite debate because there's something
really interesting I learned about the book that was instrumental in making me
want to retry reading it again. I'm hesitant to write about it here because it
may be regarded as a spoiler but I'll answer questions!
'Til next time,
-Bella
