The Catcher in the Rye

The novel, "The Catcher in the Rye" follows the life of an angst 16 year old, Holden Caulfield, who is expelled from yet another preparatory school. This is not the first time for him. Fearing his parents' wrath he decides to wander around New York for a while reflecting on his life and frustrations, thus giving his parents time to 'cool off' before he returns home. Holden faces many issues which show up in the multiple themes of the novel. Pain of growing up and facing change (theme). Holden sees adult society as phony (theme); people exhibiting 'fake smiles' and polite lies and acting - pretending to be something that they are not. This really bothers him as he is a cheerleader for genuineness. He dislikes most people for this. Two groups he is fond of are a group of nuns he meets on the bus, (they are genuine) and kids in general. He quite enjoys the innocence of children. Holden is in a tight position. He has problems with his identity and where he fits into the world. He is too old to fit in with the kids and refuses to incorporate himself in the 'phony' adult community where he belongs thus forcing him into an isolated and lonely existence (theme). I believe his problems stem from some sort of mental illness (another theme) making it difficult for him to grow up and accept change (theme). He does comment on his troubled childhood and occasionally reflects on the death of his younger brother. All this may have contributed to his dilemma. Eventually he does decide on a purpose in his life; to save the young kids from the perils of adult society with all its phoniness. With this he decides to not go home but instead continue to wander. I am not sure he will ever really fit in however. I see him as getting a menial job where he works by himself or with a small group of people who are similar to him- loaners. At the end he reconsiders and does to home to face his parents.I recommend this novel. It is a terrific coming of age novel that does justice to the confusion, insecurities and and anxieties young people face as they make the transition from child to adult. Young children lack experience to deal with the demands society and peers place on them. Even though we as adults have gone through these 'tough teenage years' we often forget how hard it was. This coming of age is more difficult today than it was in the past when the world was not as fast paced and competitive as it is today. With the advent of cell phones children are never alone and are exposed to peer pressure and bullying 24/7 without the parents even aware. As parents we all want the best for our children but not everyone has the skills or finances to mentor their children.

16 year old angst. Good read. I like reading banned books.

This book took me FOREEEVVVEEERRR to finish... I can't for the life of me understand what the point of this book or story was. All I kept thinking was that Holden needed his ass whipped and does this dude have ADHD??? I read it to learn and see what all the hype was about and maybe I would have been able to relate as a teenager, but as a 40+ grown ass woman, it's a no for me. 🙄🤦🏽‍♀️

I really did not enjoy most of this book. I'm not kidding. But the ending was pretty good ngl

I first read this book when I was a teenager and it struck a chord with me. I understand why some find it difficult to read, but Holden was a kindred spirit to me as a lost teenage boy.