Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye (Cliffs Notes) [Paperback]

Robert B. Kaplan (Author), J. D. Salinger (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0822003015 | ISBN-13: 978-0822003014 | Publication Date: May 24, 1965 | Edition: 1

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 hemorraghes apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all - I'm not saying that - byt they're also touchy as hell. Besides, I'm not going to tell you my whole . . . autobiography or anything. I'll just tell you about this mad man stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy. I mean, that's all I told D. B. about, and he's my brother and all. . . .

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Cliffs Notes; 1 edition (May 24, 1965)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822003015
• ISBN-13: 978-0822003014
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a boring story, November 8, 2001

By 

leen lavrysen (belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye (Cliffs Notes) (Paperback)

Your own opinion : Catcher in the Rye

After I've read a lot, I can give you my opinion about this book.
When Istarted reading, I thought it was a book just like an other. But he was a little bit special, and that's what I don't like. I like more just a story where you want to read till the and because you want to know it. Bu t in this book I hadn't that feeling.
It 's also al little bit boring, when they tell you just their life.
It doesn't bother me when they use people language, sometimes it was a little bit confusing.
But the rest it reads fluently,whit some difficult words but that's what you always have.
I don't like Holdons' character. There are some things that you have to do also when you don't like them. For example go to school. He doesn't do any useful, he just does what he likes.
It's a pity that you don't know how his parents think, and you don't know about who Holdon think about his parents.
It's also a little bit boring because there just a few persons who act in this story.
Also how Holdon acted, I don't like. He doesn't know what he wants and thats what Ihate about people.
So I don't like this story,and it have take long time to read it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Questionable Literature, June 29, 2000

By 

Leah - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye (Cliffs Notes) (Paperback)

After reading The Catcher in the Rye, I was quite amused after seeing all the reviews that other people had written. To me, it did not seem to be a work of literature that expressed Holden's anguish and him having a breakdown. Please, don't get me wrong, it was a compelling piece of work, but it didn't seem that strong in the sense that everyone had talked about before. In my eyes, I have many questions about this work, where does it come into context that he is having a breakdown? It merely shows his life over a couple of days after he gets kicked out of school and him living in New York, and him telling us about his past. Then again, maybe I should read over the book again and try to see what others are reading in between the lines.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tragi-comic, May 15, 2000

By 

Becky - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye (Cliffs Notes) (Paperback)

Hello everyone!

I missed out on reading "The Catcher in the Rye" when I was 15 which I understand is when most people tend to read it so at first I thought that the content would be primarily directed at a younger audience. However, my initial prejudices against the novel were completely unfounded as I found both the subject matter and the language employed by Salinger extremely effective and thought-provoking. I wasn't expecting the novel to dazzle me with new ideas about human psychology, and yet I have to admit once again that I was astounded by how affected I was by the protagonist's situation and his experiences. Of course, being written in the first person there is that intimacy which I feel never reaches the same level of intensity in novels written in the third person. I found myself immersed in the character, wanting to talk to him face to face as he himself says of authors he has read himself. Fascinating. I don't know what other people think but I felt the same sort of clarity in this novel as I have found in works by John Steinbeck. Perhaps it is a trait perfected by American authors of the twentieth century, I have too many novels yet to explore to say for certain, but it does strike me that the manner in which the author uses the dialect and slang to effectively bring his character to life is something which is rarely come across. A wonderful novel.

Please write to me to tell me your views even if you disagree!

Becky.