Great classic, very anxiety ridden and strange but interesting overall.

The ultimate coming of age story--the language is a little raw. It's one of my favorites--love Salinger's writing style. If I ever wrote a book, this would be the style I'd imitate--with slightly less-colorful language.

It was a really strange book. Nothing really happened, but i actually liked it. I cared a lot about Holden and his relationship with his brothers and sister, and, even though Holden also annoyed the hell out of me sometimes, I loved the expressions he used ("sonuvabitch", "helluva", "goddam", "old (name of person)", and so on).

Outstanding. My favorite novel of all time.

4,5 *

A goddamn ridiculous book - In a good way!

I loved the style of writing, I love the way everything was said, I liked the super American way it was written - I really did enjoy the structure and language of it.

The actual plot? It was fun to read, dont get me wrong, but what was the book actually about? When i read around it was supposed to be about protecting the innocent and whatnot - And I may have missed the mark because i’m not attentive or insightful enough, but I really don’t get that?

I understand Houldens thing with Allie, and how sweet he is with Phoebe, and I can sort of get it from there, as well as him himself being very weak, but I seriously didn’t get the “message” behind the book. Though its still a good book regardless! I suppose not every book has to have a message behind it, though i thought a book as popular as this one would have one.

Anyway, I really liked the whole thing with Houlden and his “phony” obsession. It really shows how alienated he was from society and all his peers around him, and it was very teenage angsty, as it should be considering his age and background.

Anyway, a really fun and nice read, I just don’t get the whole innocence part of it. Nothing groundbreaking either, just really fun and simply good!

It makes sense that this book is mostly assigned as high school reading. I can see myself identifying with Holden's feelings of teenage angst as a teen, but his story didn't really have the same effect on me as an adult. Holden is oblivious to his hypocritical behavior, believes he is the only authentic human (aside from his sister and little brother) in a city full of "phonies," and overuses the term "killing me" to express mild amusement or annoyance. All pretty typical for an angsty teen! As an adult reader, however, I found it all a little irritating. Also, nothing really happens in this book, which I know is fairly standard for coming-of-age stories but left me a bit bored. I do like knowing that teenage emotions and thought processes haven't changed much, though! And, Holden did tug at my heartstrings in the end when he misinterprets Robert Burns's poem to conclude that he would like to be a catcher in the rye.