mentalbunny
15th June 2003, 13:16
Catcher In the Rye by J D Salinger (Published by Penguin, ISBN number: 0-14-023750-X)
The story of Holden Caulfield belongs to a world that few of us will have experienced; he is a member of the upper classes in East Coast, America in the late 40’s, possible early 50’s. But Holden’s very different to those around him and that’s what makes it so good, he’s a non-conformist, so I relate to him, he’s a real person, with flaws and strange ideas, but he’s got a lot of humanity in him.
J D Salinger’s writing style is instantly gripping, when you’re reading the book it’s as though Holden’s sitting in the room with you, talking to you about some stuff that happened, about being thrown out of one of a succession of private schools. The great thing about Holden is that he fills you in on loads of other little things when he’s “talking” to you, in the first page you learn quite a lot about him, but not in a dull way like in other books where you are given lots of information as an introduction and then the story starts. Throughout the book Holden goes on little detours in his narrative, which adds to the informal, friendly style.
If what you look for in books is a fast moving, racy plot line then you won’t enjoy Catcher in the Rye but there is some kind of plot, there are lots of little episodes and through them you get to know Holden in a lot of depth, without knowing his entire life, it’s just like meeting someone and having a long conversation with them without properly knowing their background.
This book is not particularly long and really easy to read, so if you have a day with nothing planned I highly recommend reading it, it’s a book you can come back to again and again, and you keep Holden with you in your mind, just as though he’s a real person you met once and you’ve never seen again.
(Edited by mentalbunny at 1:17 pm on June 15, 2003)
The story of Holden Caulfield belongs to a world that few of us will have experienced; he is a member of the upper classes in East Coast, America in the late 40’s, possible early 50’s. But Holden’s very different to those around him and that’s what makes it so good, he’s a non-conformist, so I relate to him, he’s a real person, with flaws and strange ideas, but he’s got a lot of humanity in him.
J D Salinger’s writing style is instantly gripping, when you’re reading the book it’s as though Holden’s sitting in the room with you, talking to you about some stuff that happened, about being thrown out of one of a succession of private schools. The great thing about Holden is that he fills you in on loads of other little things when he’s “talking” to you, in the first page you learn quite a lot about him, but not in a dull way like in other books where you are given lots of information as an introduction and then the story starts. Throughout the book Holden goes on little detours in his narrative, which adds to the informal, friendly style.
If what you look for in books is a fast moving, racy plot line then you won’t enjoy Catcher in the Rye but there is some kind of plot, there are lots of little episodes and through them you get to know Holden in a lot of depth, without knowing his entire life, it’s just like meeting someone and having a long conversation with them without properly knowing their background.
This book is not particularly long and really easy to read, so if you have a day with nothing planned I highly recommend reading it, it’s a book you can come back to again and again, and you keep Holden with you in your mind, just as though he’s a real person you met once and you’ve never seen again.
(Edited by mentalbunny at 1:17 pm on June 15, 2003)