The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Hello!! Here you have a review of a book that was really important for me during my teenage years and that I will always remember with affection: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I have had the opportunity to reread this novel lately and I remember why I loved it so much back then.

It´s a first-person narrative and our narrator is Holden Caulfield, a 16 year-old from New York. Caulfield is not like the rest of the teenagers. He is a reserved, problem child that has been expelled from several schools previously. Indeed, when the novel starts, Holden lets the reader know that he has been expelled from his current school. After having a row with one of his classmates, he decides to escape and goes to New York.

I think The Catcher in the Rye addresses some complicated issues. I have met lots of people who adore the novel and some who hate it. I think it depends on the age when you read it.
Adolescence is a tough period and everybody knows it. It´s the age of rebellion and stubbornness. Teenagers suffer from anxiety and pressure and that could make them take drastic decisions, like the ones our narrator takes in this novel and it is easy to feel empathy for him.

As I mentioned, Holden is troublesome and hides all his feelings and fears, that´s why at the beginning of the novel the reader finds it difficult to follow his thoughts, but slowly Holden puts the plot together. The fact that the novel is written in first person is really appropriate, as it is a bildungsroman or "coming-of-age" story. This means that the book deals with the growth of the main character and the reader gets to know the protagonist perfectly.

I love the book and I will always recommend it to everyone I know. I think it should be a compulsory reading, as it is a tribute to rebellion, lack of understanding and the loneliness that we inevitably feel during adolescence.