The Catcher in the Rye.

J.D. Salinger

ISBN 10: 0553149660 / ISBN 13: 9780553149661

Published by Bantam Books, 1981

About this Item

"The Catcher in the Rye" tells the story of Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old expelled from his prep school, who spends a few days in New York City before Christmas, grappling with feelings of alienation and the "phoniness" of the adult world. He seeks connection, struggles with grief over his brother's death, and ultimately reflects on his own identity and future.

Seller Inventory # 30

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Catcher in the Rye.
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Publication Date: 1981
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0553149660
• ISBN 13: 9780553149661
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 5th or later Edition
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

The Catcher in the Rye

Review

Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins,

"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, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."

His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.