The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger > Reviews > Funny, interesting, compelling...

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?	Absolutely
Story	Good
Characters	Outstanding
Listenability	Once you start it, you won't be able to switch it off!
How does it compare to similar audio books?	Excellent
How does it compare to audio works by the same author?	Excellent

Advantages:	Very easy to read
Disadvantages:	None, I love it

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This is my favourite book of all time that I first read when I was 11, then re-read several times since then. I bought it in a charity shop for 50p!! It begins with the following, and immediately hooks you and you can't put it down...

'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...'

American novelist and short story writer JD Salinger published one novel and several short story collections between 1948-59. This is his best-known work written in 1951. He was born and grew up in Manhattan, New York. He was the son of a Jewish importer of Kosher cheese and his Scotch-Irish wife. He fell in love with Oona O'Neill, and wrote her letters daily, he was later shocked when she married Charles Chaplin. In 1945 Salinger married a French woman named Sylvia - she was a doctor. They were divorced and in 1955 Salinger married Claire Douglas, this marriage ended in divorce in 1967, when Salinger's retreated into his private world. Rumors spread from time to time, that Salinger will publish another novel, or that he publishes his work under a pseudonym. From the late 60's he has avoided publicity. In 1961 Time Magazine sent a team of reporters to investigate his private life. "I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure," said Salinger in 1974.

The story is written as if by the main charcter, Holden Caulfield, who is currently in a rest home after the events in the book have led up to him having some sort of breakdown. Holden is a teenager who has been expelled from several schools and he goes on a journey, leaving the last school early before the holidays and heading into the city. His brother has recently died and he experiences anger/depression/loneliness at different points in the book.

The book is extremely funny as he meets a variety of characters who are described in detail that makes you feel as if you have been there with them. From the way Holden speaks, you feel that there is something wrong with him but Holden never reveals what it is. he talks about "phoniness" around him and how the dishonesty of the world disturbs him. He mentions the problem of materialism in the adult world.

He has an inability to communicate, and he says he wouldn't mind becoming a deaf-mute. So repulsed is he by the phoniness around him that he retreats within himself: 'I figured that I could get a job at a filling station somewhere, putting gas and oil in people's cars. I didn't care what kind of job it was, though. Just so people didn't know me and I didn't know anybody. I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn't have to have any goddam stupid useless conversation with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something, they'd have to write it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They'd get bored as hell doing that after a while, and then I'd be through with having conversations for the rest of my life. Everybody'd think I was just a poor deaf-mute bastard and they'd leave me alone . . . I'd cook all my own food, and later on, if I wanted to get married or something, I'd meet this beautiful girl that was also a deaf-mute and we'd getmarried. She'd come and live in my cabin with me, and if she wanted to say anything to me, she'd have to write it on a piece of paper, like everybody else'

My favourite parts are when he's in the bar and meets the 2 women who he tries to buy drinks and dance with, the scene where he discusses where do the ducks go when the lake freezes over?, and the part where he meets the prostitute and says he wants to talk to her.

Considering the year this was written, its still a great read today and 250,000 copies are still sold annually. I would recommend it to anyone especially if you like Kerouac's books as it reads in a similar way.. like a journey!