I often wonder by whose criteria that a book gets banned? While searching through the books at Barnes & Noble in Brick, New Jersey, I came across a table that was signed "Banned Books." Now, J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher In The Rye" was originally published in 1945 and one of the first books I noticed on the table. Many moons ago, this book was required reading at my high school. I still remember my last line in a book report I did on this treasure. "I may not get an "A" on this book report but Holden Caulfield would have wanted it that way." Needless to say, I did get an "A" on the report. I remember liking the book when I first read it and I wasn't much of a reader back then.
The story is told by a young man who is currently seventeen by the name of Holden Caulfield. His school, Pencey, a prep school in Pennsylvania, was nearing their Christmas break. The only thing is Holden has already been kicked out which is not the first time he was asked to leave a school. He didn't seem to care much for his fellow students or roommates. His fencing teammates were recently mad at him for leaving their equipment on the subway right before a big game.
Holden is very descriptive in his storytelling as we get a glimpse into his battle to figure out who he is. We get a peak into the women in his life, but I don't think he has really learned how to love someone. This is except for his little sister Phoebe. He doubts many of the decisions he has made in the past. His parents have no idea that he has been expelled from a school again and is experiencing a real fear of telling them.
He keeps reiterating how people involved in the movies are all phonies. His brother D.B. is currently in Hollywood, while the rest of his family is in New York. He does miss his deceased brother though and seems to really want to stay in touch with his surviving siblings. His dream is to hitchhike out west and get a job where he can afford a cabin to live off the grid. The more he talks about those people in his life that bothered him the more I believe he realized that he misses them.
I didn't remember much of the book as I was reading it again but by the last chapter I began to see why it resonated with me. It was well worth it to bring this novel back into my collection.