Shortlisted for the 2009 Penguin Orange Readers' Group Book of the Year.
One of our 'Must Reads'. A great teenage classic. Holden Caufield is the ultimate outsider; he is expelled from school, falls out with his friends and finally suffers a nervous breakdown. The book is a scathing attack on American society in the 1950’s seen through the eyes of one the most fascinating central characters ever created. Originally banned because of liberal use of profanity and powerful portrayal of teenage angst, The Catcher In The Rye has now been deemed essential reading for growing-up.
A 16-year old American boy relates in his own words the experiences he goes through at school and after, and reveals with unusual candour the workings of his own mind. What does a boy in his teens think and feel about his teachers, parents, friends and acquaintances?
J.D. Salinger was born in New York City on January 1, 1919. Salinger is known for works about sensitive, articulate young people and for his skill in capturing the quality of their colloquial urban speech.
His best-known work is The Catcher in the Rye, a novel about a neurotic, perceptive adolescent who rebels against what he considers the phoniness of modern society. Told in the teenage slang pf the narrator-hero, the book is a skillful combination of humor and pathos. Since its publication, it has been the favorite of high school and college students.
A strange aside to the bookThe Catcher in the Ryecenters around the death of John Lennon. The assassin, John David Chapman, after firing several shots into John Lennon, dropped his gun and calmy took out his copy of The Catcher in the Rye, sat down on the curb, and read until the police arrived.
