I long to be royalty!!! (The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger)

Member Name: shanecahill

Product:	The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger
Date:	07/10/01 (221 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent book, Funny, Heart warming

Disadvantages: Bit short

The Catcher In The Rye is now a book with such cult status and huge following, an opinion on it is a daunting task to say the least. Fortunately, I am renowned for my bravery. Actually no, I'm not. That's a lie, I'm renowned for having written 28 opinions and still not having a crown. So in a valiant effort to persuade the bastards at Dooyoo to give me one, I'm writing this. Oh yeah, and to help me on the way I just called them bastards. Insulting them seems to work.

On to the book. The story of the most famous teenager of all, Holden Caufield, starts out with perhaps the most renowned first line of all time (well maybe, probably not actually. I like it, is what I'm trying to say) "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it". So starts the narrative of Holden Caufields journey from adolesence to adulthood.

Holden attends Pencey Prep, an all-boys school. Well that should be attended. He has just been expelled, or in his words "I got the axe". Failing every subject except English, he's told his presence is no longer needed. This doesn't trouble him half as much as the prospect of telling his parents, and this fear is to drive him to run away from Pencey and take him right the way round New York to clear his head.

The story starts with Holden arriving back in Pencey from a fencing meet in another school. Unfortunately, Holden manages to leave the equipment on the train up. Needless to say he finds this pretty funny, and struggles to comprehend the annoyance everyone else feels. It bothers him little though, as his impending departure from the school draws closer. He realizes he promised to say goodbye to his history teacher, Mr Spencer. As we soo
n found out, "Old Spencer" is a man with grippe and a whole lotta advice. As Holden sits by his bedside Spencer tries to find out where Holden is going in life. The answer, they both discover is nowhere, and this seems to bother Holden less than Mr. Spencer. After a lot of "bull", and no real regret Holden says goodbye and heads back to his room.

From here the plot thickens, and Holden gets a sudden urge to leave the school. This takes him on a journey to the sleaziest and the poshest areas of New York, encounters with prostitutes, older ladies and more weird people than you'd find in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I think I'll leave the book here, as I hope you'll be intrigued enough to give this a go, though I'm sure most of you have already read this one. If not, shame on you. Arise and go now to your nearest bookshop.

This book is touching in parts, with Holden showing such affection for people God bless 'im. The deep love he shows for his family is most likely the strongest case of this and his sister is the main reciepient. Yet Holden, in an Adrian Mole kind of way is extremly funny. His constant attempts to buy alcohol, his attempts to seduce older women, and his constant use of phrases that only he would use ("It was raining like a bastard") will have you in stitches, so avoid reading in public places.

At times this book knocks me out by summing up exactly how teenagers think. Ehen somebody tells him life's a game, who among us cannot relate to Holden's reaction:
" Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the right side where all the hot-shots are, then it's a game, all right - I'll admit that. But if you're on the other side, where there aren't any hot-shots, then what's a game about it? Nothing. No Game". Brings you back doesn't it?

This book deals with life, death, sex, adolesence and growing up. What more could you want fr
om a book? Get out there and buy it before I get angry.

Feel free to comment, your opinion is important to me. Just not as important as my opinion, because I'm always right (-;

-----Shane-----

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