The Catcher in the Rye
First published 1945 · English · 277 pages
- Novels
- Coming of age
- Young adult
- Philosophy
This novel is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old who has been expelled from his boarding school and drifts around New York City for a few days before facing his family. Speaking in a casual, funny and often contradictory voice, he complains about the phoniness of adults and his peers while revealing his loneliness, his grief and his fierce protectiveness toward younger children, especially his sister Phoebe. The book is a landmark of American fiction about adolescence. Its frank language once caused controversy, but its honest portrait of confusion and longing continues to speak to new readers.
Quotes
Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has - I'm not kidding.
They don't do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school. And I didn't know anybody there that was splendid and clear-thinking and all. Maybe two guys. If that many. And they probably came to Pencey that way.
I got the ax. They give guys the ax quite frequently at Pencey. It has a very good academic rating, Pencey. It really does.
It was that kind of a crazy afternoon, terrifically cold, and no sun out or anything, and you felt like you were disappearing every time you crossed a road.