#6 Catcher in the Rye

by J.D. Salinger

I'm not sure exactly why this is such an acclaimed book. Not that it wasn't good, or that I didn't like it, but it seems a little simpler than I imagined it would be. The one reason for it's acclaim that I can think of is that it is about depression and was written in a day when depression was misunderstood. Maybe I don't fully understand the book, so if that is the case, and you've read the book, let me know. That being said, I will try to give it a review without my strange sense of wonder about it's status.

The book covers a few days in the life of a teenage boy that has depression. He is retelling the days that led up to an assumed year in a mental hospital in California (his being in a mental hospital is only elluded to). He finds that most people in his life are phony and the small amount of happiness he feels in those few days comes from children: his sister, a boy on the street, etc... He refers to many things others do that annoy him, but he does most of those things many times in the book. I think he is most depressed because he realizes that he is phony also, and he's trying to do whatever he can to prevent that from happening.

Here is my analysis of what the book is really about. It's about how depressing the real world is; how innocence and sincerity are lost when you grow up. This is shown thru the happiness he feels because of children and about how he finds all adults to be phony. Even his two favorite teachers, the ones he thought weren't phony, tell him how he needs to grow up and be responsible.

The thing that really stood out to me was that he wants to be The Catcher in the Rye. He misinterprets the lyrics to a song and gets the idea of the catcher in the rye. The song's lyrics are "if a body meet a body coming through the rye" and he thinks it says "if a body catch a body". He tells his little sister that he always pictured all these little children playing in a rye field. He is the only person around that is not a child. His job is to stand by this big cliff and catch any children who might run out of the rye field, not knowing where they are going, and save them from falling off the cliff. Falling off the cliff is like entering the real world and losing your childlike innocence. He wants to save all the children from that fate.

The story is good, and the point is good, but it was too simple. I guess my expectations exceeded what the book is. It was enjoyable and I'm gald I read it, but I don't know whether I would recommend this book or not.