J. D. Salinger wrote one of the most famous books ever written, The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger wrote many stories and, in 1941, after several rejections, Salinger finally cracked The New Yorker, with a story, "Slight Rebellion Off Madison," that was an early sketch of what became a scene in "The Catcher in the Rye." The magazine then had second thoughts in part because of World War II in which Salinger was in combat, and held the story for five years before finally publishing it in 1946, buried in the back of an issue. Everyone was surprised when the story and the book that followed it became a bit hit. Even today nobody can really explain why Catcher in the Rye is so famous and so popular. Yet, millions have been sold and are still being sold even though only available as used books nowadays. When The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951, it was registered for copyright as "additional material." This obviously referred to the earlier work "Slight Rebellion Off Madison." The copyright page on "The Catcher in the Rye" states "Copyright 1945, 1946, 1951 by J. D Salinger." The date of 1945 obviously refers to the publication of "I'm Crazy," a short story written by Salinger and published in the December 22, 1945 issue of Collier's magazine that first introduced the character Holden Caulfield to the reading public. Salinger later reworked this short story to incorporate it into The Catcher in the Rye. The two earlier stories are "I'm Crazy," an early version of Holden's departure from prep school that later shows up in The Catcher in the Rye. With minor alteration, much of this story is familiar to readers as the chapter where Holden visits Mr. Spencer. What sets this story apart is the presence of an additional Caulfield sister and the clarity of Holden's resignation and compromise at the end. "Slight Rebellion off Madison" is an early version of another scene in The Catcher in the Rye. The story follows Holden when he is home from Pency and goes to the movies, then skating with Sally Hayes, followed by his drunken calls to her apartment late at night. An early story, it is the first of Salinger's Caulfied works to be accepted for publication.
"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." (Holden Caulfield)
While reading The Catcher in the Rye, I kept on wondering what is the purpose of this book? What makes it a classic? Even although there is no definite direction or plot, there is an undertone that something isn't all too right and I was hooked. When I got to the end of this book and realised that the main theme is about maintaining childhood innocence, I couldn't help but love The Catcher in the Rye.
There are extremely polarising opinions about The Catcher in the Rye. Some people love it and some people hate it. Whether you love this book or not will depend on just how much you can stand Holden Caulfield.
Holden Caulfield is an unreliable narrator and is one of the most complex characters I have ever read about. He has a 'don't care attitude', tough guy exterior, but underneath all that is a jaded, lonely and rebellious teenager who is trying to figure out what's going on in the world around him. But, Holden is also whiny, judgemental, critical and hypocritical. He is extremely obsessed with hating anybody that is typical or acts in a superficial manner and calls them "phony". Holden, it takes a "phony" to know a 'phony".
Luckily, my reading enjoyment doesn't depend on the likability of characters. Instead it depends on how well I can relate to the characters that I'm reading about. As a teenager transitioning into an adult in a cruel world, I could relate to Holden's feelings of disillusionment and anger, I could sympathise with his sensitivity and loneliness and appreciate his love for his sister Pheobe.
The Catcher in the Rye has no definite plot, but Holden's conversational and casual narrative makes for an interesting and entertaining read.
"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it." (Holden Caulfield)
