Title: The Catcher in the Rye Author: J.D. Salinger
ISBN: 0-316-76948-7
Recommended Grade Level of Reader: 10th to 12th
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Media Type: Book
Copyright: 1945
Genre: Fiction
Reader's Annotation: The world is full of phonies.
Plot Summary: Written from the perspective of the male protagonist, The Catcher in the Rye, is a classic novel documenting a couple of days in the life of the main character, Holden Caulfield. At the outset, the readers learn that Holden was expelled from his prep school due to reasons Holden explains as, “flunking four subjects and not applying myself at all,” (p. 4). His poor attitude is indicative of his outlook in the rest of the novel which recounts the days just after his expulsion. If readers do not glean from Holden’s depressive and disillusioned thoughts that he experiences metal instability, atypical from that of a normal teenager, it is reveled when he acknowledges meeting with a psychoanalyst towards the end of the book.
Evaluation: (A) The reader may not have much experience with characters like Holden Caulfield. This is the appeal in Catcher in the Rye, however. Holden is such a unique, well developed character that one will want to closely follow his story. Salinger does an effective job at maintaining Holden’s depressed, reclusive state from the first page to the last. Throughout the novel, the reader will glean that Holden is a slightly abnormal, perhaps mentally ill, teenager. Holden’s lonely existence provides for a story that is almost heartbreaking.
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