A great teenage classic since its first publication in 1951, The Catcher in the Rye is now 60 years old. Holden Caulfield is the ultimate outsider; he is expelled from school, falls out with his friends and finally suffers a nervous breakdown. The book is a scathing attack on American society in the 1950’s seen through the eyes of one the most fascinating central characters ever created. Originally banned because of liberal use of profanity and powerful portrayal of teenage angst, The Catcher In The Rye has now been deemed essential reading for growing-up.
Shortlisted for the 2009 Penguin Orange Readers' Group Book of the Year.
| Primary Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
| Other Genres: |
Holden Caulfield is a seventeen-year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school, in 1950s New York. Precocious, sensitive and confused, he blunders through a haze of teenage failures, disappointments and anti-climaxes and delivers to the reader a bitter-sweet, biting commentary on all the 'phony' aspects of society and the 'phonies' themselves. Through his direct first-person narrative emerges one of the most touching, funny and nuanced portrayals of the confusions and frustrations of youth that exists in the literature of the English language, and a sparky and colloquial style that influenced generations of writers afterwards.
Innovative and revolutionary for its time, The Catcher in the Rye is as much a testament to and reflection of that time and its frustrations as it is a timeless and universal reflection on life, disillusionment, and growing up.
The Catcher in the Rye features in the following genres: Young Adult Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, General Fiction, Fiction
The Catcher in the Rye is available in Hardback, Paperback
The Catcher in the Rye was written by J D Salinger and published by Penguin Books an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd
The Catcher in the Rye has 192 pages
