The Catcher in the Rye

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:32:31 -0500

Summary

This follows the main character, sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, for a couple of days after he is once again kicked out of school for his failing grades. Knowing that he has a couple of days before his parents receive the notice, Holden decides to wander around the town. The story ends up unfolding over a weekend, starting on a Saturday and ending the following Monday afternoon.

Thoughts

First of all, I can’t write this review without talking about the style. From the start of the first paragraph to the end of the last line, Salinger’s style never stopped annoying me. This is because he decided to write it from the subjective viewpoint of Holden, who, as I said, was a teenager in the ’40s. Thus, the story is written in the lingo of a teenager from the ’40s. This means that all the things that you would typically do to write well are thrown out the window in favor of keeping the narration somewhat similar to how a teenager would actually talk. The overall effect is, as one book critic put it, “like mainlining castor oil.”

Salinger on George's Blog

The Catcher in the Rye