The Catcher in the Rye

J. D. Salinger

Aug 2019 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this ebook

The "brilliant, funny, meaningful novel" (The New Yorker) that established J. D. Salinger as a leading voice in American literature--and that has instilled in millions of readers around the world a lifelong love of books.


"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."

The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caufield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days.

Ratings and reviews

My favorite book since adolescence. The struggle of someone trying to connect deeply with people in a world that only seems to care about surface level constructions. It's a companion to a specific kind of misanthropy or maybe to something else entirely. One that doesn't condemn or hate humanity for what they are, but actually a saddened realization of the things that they could yet refuse to be. Those with the ability to see it will be bothered by it, but they are also blessed of being the watchful spectators and dissectors of it.

This was an annoying book. I always thought of it as a classic and finally read it. Way too much swearing and babbling. I really have a thing about finishing books but I struggled to complete this one.

I started this book over 20 years ago in high school and never finished because I graduated. At the time I did not appreciate the words. Now, they resonate powerfully. I am glad I took the time to reread it.

About the author

J. D. Salinger was born in New York City on January 1, 1919, and died in Cornish, New Hampshire, on January 27, 2010. His stories appeared in many magazines, most notably The New Yorker. Between 1951 and 1963 he produced four book-length works of fiction: The Catcher in the Rye; Nine Stories; Franny and Zooey; and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour--An Introduction. The books have been embraced and celebrated throughout the world and have been credited with instilling in many a lifelong love of reading.