Title: The Catcher in the RyeAuthor: J.D. Salinger
Publication date: 1951
Number of pages: 288
Genre: fiction
Geographical Setting: New York City, Agerstown, PA, a sanatorium in California
Time Period: shortly after WWII, late 1940s/early 1950s
Series: N/A
Series: N/A
Plot Summary: Holden Caulfield narrates his experiences in New York City following his expulsion from a prep school. Holden tells his story a year later from a mental facility in Hollywood. He criticizes the other students and faculty of his school as “phony” and describes leaving in the middle of the night to take a train to New York. Instead of returning to his family right away, he checks into a derelict hotel. His days in the city involve loneliness and drunkenness and beatings. He loathes the hypocrisy of the world around him but idealizes the innocence and purity of children like his sister.
Subject Headings: conformity, growing up, cynicism, idealism, brother/sister relationships, individualism, mental breakdown, prostitute
Appeal: often on banned books lists, coming of age, first person narrative, slang and obscene language, self-reflection after mental breakdown, sexual experiences
If you liked The Catcher in the Rye, you might enjoy: Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
