The Catcher in the Rye - J.D.Salinger

The novel is one to capture you from the very beginning. The novel is written in the first person and narrated by the main character, Holden Caulfield. He demonstrates a confused and vulnerable young teenage boy who finds life difficult situations to be a struggle. Although the book is only based over a couple of months, the storyline is very developed and is a book which you could easily get stuck in to.

J.D.Salinger, the author of the novel, creates an alienated character that has been kicked out of his 4^th boarding school for skipping lessons and heads home to Manhattan. He figures he will stay in a cheap lodge and build his life from there, meeting old friends and socialising. However, this is where Salinger reflects a lot of his own disturbed and jolted past within the story line which he uses as a technique to delve deeper into reflecting Holden’s emotions and circumstances. We come across many different names from Holden’s past where he demonstrates how relationships haven’t always worked out for him whether it was between friends or with an adult. Salinger, from the start of the novel explains how Holden lost his brother to leukaemia and justifies that as to being the reason for Holden being so troubled but when moving to an uncaring city, Holden’s delicate psyche reflects the already made damage and his life begins to fall.

J.D.Salinger himself was troubled with his own experience of being exploring many different schools and suffering great depression after serving in the war. This history and past of the author helps to enhance his style of writing with similar links between the characters.

The novel was very easy to read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys being driven into reading a book where you can't put it down.