Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951 and became famous, but also notorious.    With swearing and references to sexuality there was some outrage.    The literary world, though, admired the writing and it has stayed on many best books lists for 70 years.

The story is told by Holden Caulfield, a 17 year old New York teenager with lots of issues.  Holden is flunking out of a prep school at the start of the novel.   He has bouts of depression, anxiety, and self-doubt.   Isolation, rebellion, independence, and social discordance arise as themes in this 3-day first person journal told in Holden’s own unique lingo.

“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy.”

In terms of a plot, nothing extraordinary happens once he is expelled from school.   Holden makes a number of eclectic choices – he visits bars and clubs, he gets drunk, he calls up his old girlfriends, he sleeps in a subway station, he sneaks into his parents home, and he plans to leave everything behind and hitchhike his way out west.   As readers we see that he has lost his way and he is looking for an anchor for his life, but his revulsion over phoniness, his hypersensitivity, his lack of self-care, and his self-exclusion lead him to one questionable choice after another.    It is only his relationship to his little sister that brings him back.    The final page points to Holden starting to finding his way.    It really does.

This is not a book for everyone, but it is recommended for a sector of the reading population who keep an open mind about literary merit.  4.5 out of 5.0 stars4.5

An audiobook excerpt: