An introduction to Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" discusses the author's life, his perceptions of society in the 1950s, and the novel's plot, characters, and themes.
Gr 8 Up-An overly simplistic book that offers neither new insights nor helpful reinterpretations of the novel. Instead, it is an insultingly simple regurgitation of material already well covered in Warren French's J. D. Salinger (1985; o.p.) and J. D. Salinger, Revisited (1988, both Twayne), and, for those who need something simple, Harold Bloom's The Catcher in the Rye (Chelsea, 1999). Illustrated with black-and-white photos, and including an appendix of brief (one or two paragraphs) snippets of criticism from assorted sources (books, journals, and newspapers), a chronology of Salinger's life, and a bibliography of critical works, this very slender volume is an unnecessary purchase.-Herman Sutter, Saint Agnes Academy, Houston, TX
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