The Catcher in the Rye

£7.99

J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is claimed by many to be the ultimate novel for disaffected youth, although such a simple classification would undermine it’s literary value, as this classic text is relevant to readers of all ages.

Written by the infamously reclusive J. D. Salinger, the story is told by Holden Caulfield, a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Throughout, Holden dissects the 'phony' aspects of society, and the 'phonies' themselves: the headmaster whose affability depends on the wealth of the parents, his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection.

Lazy in style, full of slang and swear words, it's a novel whose interest and appeal comes from its observations rather than its plot intrigues (in conventional terms, there is hardly any plot at all). Salinger's style creates an effect of conversation, it is as though Holden is speaking to you personally, as though you too have seen through the pretences of the American Dream and are growing up unable to see the point of living in, or contributing to, the society around you.

The book itself has become a part of urban legend, not just for the quality of the masterful text: Mark David Chapman was said to have been carrying the book when he assassinated John Lennon; the author himself has not published anything since 1965, his intense privacy and reclusive behaviour resulting in only three further publications after Catcher In The Rye.

Written with the clarity of a boy leaving childhood, it deals with society, love, loss, and expectations without ever falling into the clutch of a cliché- Catcher In The Rye is a book that you will find yourself dipping in and out of again and again for years to come.