Book Review: The Catcher in the Rye

The most notable accomplishment of the day (apart from making a few trips to and fro the marketplace) was the culmination of the reading of J.D Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye". It took me the best part of two months to finish this 115 page book. "Why?", you ask. Because of the wants of student life that say that most recreational activity must take a back seat when examinations are in process.

So anyways, I shall review here this wonderful book. Standard disclaimers to the effect that these are purely my personal opinions and other such gobbledygook apply.

Buy it here.

"Catcher in the Rye" is a day in the life of Holden Caulfield, a quintessential "Rebel without a cause". He knows there is something very wrong with the world and the people in it, but he is just not able to figure out what or why. He doesn't see why people are such "phonies", why they have to make small talk and big talk, why schoolboys have to pick on other schoolboys, and why he dislikes all this. He dislikes this yet doesn't do anythig about it except feeling crappy and "depressed". There's a lot that depresses this guy, the smell of Vicks, the corridoors of his school, packing, and much much more. He's practically a walking depression!

The story starts with Holden getting kicked out of yet another preparatory school, this time Pencey Prep. He's supposed to go home after a couple of days, but he decides he's had enough of the school, the "phoney" headmaster and students and the "depressing" corridoors, and makes a run for it. What ensues is a journey to and into New York, and many adventures in between. He's an unabashed liar and can cook up a perfectly believable story at a moment's notice. He lies even when there is no need to. He goes to pubs and bars, taking taxi after taxi, smoking one pack of cigarettes after another. He meets some of his old acquaintances and an old girlfriend, gets robbed and punched in the stomach by a pimp, and shares a table with a couple of nuns during his night and day out in the city.

He has an elder brother who is pretty good at writing stories and poetry, but now has moved to Hollywood to write movies, thereby becoming a "prostitute" in his younger sibling's eyes. He also had a younger brother, who died of leukemia, and who wrote poems on his baseball mitt to have something to read when out in the field. But the closest and the most endearing relationship he shares is that with his younger sister Phoebe. He practically hates his parents, and all through the book, he's contemplating how he can talk with Phoebe. Finally, he visits his home in the dead of the night and has a talk and some dances with her. The climactic portion of the book, involving Holden and Phoebe, is undoubtedly the high point of this book.

The writing style is original and authentic, unlike any other author I've read. The author uses liberal doses of slang to bring in the feel of it being a schoolboy's story. He also leaves a lot to the reader's imagination by using a lot of phrases like "I wished him Good Morning and all", "She was dressed up and everything" etc. The purpose of such constructions is to get the point across, while letting the reader's imagination fill in the rest of the details, thereby enabling him/her to identify and connect better with the situation. The language can be a bit of a shock to someone who starts reading the book with the preconceived notion of it being a classic, but it grows on you and you start liking it soon enough.

And why is it called "Catcher in the Rye"? Well, you'll just have to read to find out!