i've been meaning to read this book for years but i never actually had the time or patience. then Acey told me about that place where we can get e-books into iPod notes file(THANKS DUDE!).

this book is about 90 pages or so and was written almost 60 years ago but it has something everyone can relate to even today. it's on the 100 greatest literary works EVAR, a list made by TIME magazine. it's there! along with Alan Moore's The Watchmen. boo yeah!

the story is about a boy Holden Caulfield. he's been changing school sever since he was born. he flunks every subject (except english. he's actually good in it) and doesn't give a damn about anything. he hates everyone,... epecially "phonies" as he calles them. that's Holden, kinda like your avergae teenager... who is super pissed with the whole world.
the stOry is about him, with him narrating. you can't trust the guy, he lies sometimes. the events in the book spans 3 days(continuous) in the life of Holden. it shows what a teenager in 1951 did to get kicks. a fun read.

there's been mixed opinion on this book from a LOT of people, but i for one really liked it. i mean i could relate to the characters in the book and teenage angst has been brilliantly reproduced onto the pages. it's very hard to believe that all this is made up.
it's the most contraversial book of it's time as it had a protagonist (who's not exactly an anti-hero but yeah you could call him one) who swears(not up to the present day swearing standards but still), smokes, drinks and in short he's not a saint and is nowhere near a rolemodel for the teens who might read this.
then again, it's been very influential in the works of many people.
*the laughing man from Ghost in the Shell has "i thought what i'd do was pretend i was one of those deaf mutes" on his logo and it's what Holden thinks in the book.
*the songs of punk rock bands like Greenday and Offspring have been very infulenced by this book, says the bands themselves.

throughout the book you see Holden calling everybody (almost everybody) a "phony". i think it could easily be translated to "conformist". very punk rock and very anti-establishment. if that's so, it wouldn't be a wonder if punk rock bands weren't influenced by this book.

a great read and surely a very unique experince. ok, maybe the latter was because i don't read much these days. but still, it's the only of its kind from what i've read.

damn, my library doesn't have it

omkardaone wrote:damn, my library doesn't have it

Well, I could help you get the eBook. It's very small and I'm sure you can finish it in a day or something. Want it? PM me.

My librarian got it recently I am gonna have it after my exams get over on 12th but you know, my librarian warned me against this book. He says, "One guy from IIT committed suicide after reading this book." I couldn't detect if there was a suppressed smile behind his pokerface but wow, is it a dark and depressing novel or something Red?

In memory of the author J.D. Salinger. May he rest in peace.

Red wrote:i've been meaning to read this book for years but i never actually had the time or patience. then Acey told me about that place where we can get e-books into iPod notes file(THANKS DUDE!).

Woah, where?

I know, I LOVE this book. Holden's point of view, is amazing. He influenced my language a lot...
But I love his talking style. And that hat of his, I fotget what it was, some hunter hat thing?

He doesn't?! :O :O
I love what he wrote in his History Exam:
The Egyptians were an ancient race of Caucasians residing in one of the northern sections of Africa. The latter as we all know is the largest continent in the Eastern Hemisphere.
The Egyptians were extremely interesting to us today for various reasons. Modern science would still like to know what the secret ingredients were that the Egyptians used when they wrapped up dead people so that their faces would not rot for innumerable centuries. This interesting riddle is still quite a challenge for modern science.
:-P :-P He's my inspiration when it comes to exams :-P

Nope, I didn't like it. To me, it seemed, like I told Red, half interesting half funny ramblings of a half baked American punk. Nihilistic, a cut-above-the-rest flawed self perception, ya- an anti hero. But don't get me wrong, it's usually SUCH people I relate to. Didn't happen here though.

As far as the language is concerned, it irritated me. Honestly it did. Every language has slang and every slang representation has 2 ways- annoying and endearing. Take Indian fiction for instance- Inscrutable Americans or even Five Point Someone for that matter had a superb use of Indian slang. Then there's almost other 90%- all bullshit- Trust Me, Zoya Factor, Oh Shit Not Again (best sellers all) or the recent one which I had to review but couldn't read beyond first 10 pages- We, The Bachelors. I felt violated after reading these. For me, Catcher belongs more to the second category.

But then I may be wrong, of course, considering all of you here who loved it. But for me, to put it as Holden did, it was a drag

:O :O :O Well I guess thats one point of view.
I found Holden's excessive use of 'phony' annoying, but apart from that I loved the way he talked, his slang, everything.

I'm in the middle of this book... I found the excessive use of "phony" annoying too.. But it's interesting to know how much people think about others.. I don't think half as much as the lead.