The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novelnote by the late, reclusive author J. D. Salinger.
The story concerns Holden Caulfield, a smart but troubled teenager who, after being expelled from his boarding school in December 1949, spends three days wandering around New York City, mourning for the loss of innocence in children, and failing to understand the people that surround him. Holden himself can come off as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold as he unkindly judges almost everyone, but as the book explores his underlying psychological issues and reaches its Bittersweet Ending, his true nature becomes apparent.
The book is considered one of the best novels of all time, is practically the textbook for First-Person Narration, and is regularly found in critical lists of the greatest English-language works of fiction. However, it is also a frequent target of Moral Guardians for its (allegedly) offensive language and nihilistic attitude, not to mention the fact that it was caught in the possession of a few notorious murderers (making it a sort of prototype of the post-Columbine scares about violent video games). J. D. Salinger came to regret writing and publishing the novel, not least for its success putting him in the public eye.
The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most taught books in America. Between 1961 and 1982, Catcher was the most studied book in high schools. In 1981, the book was both the most frequently censored book in the United States, and, at the same time, the second-most frequently taught novel in American public schools.
It is also the most popular novel never to have been adapted into a movie. J. D. Salinger had been approached about a film adaptation over the years, always turning it down because he didn't want a repeat of the 1949 film My Foolish Heart (loosely based on his short story "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut"😉. When Ralph Bakshi offered to make it into an animated film with live-action bookends, Salinger told Bakshi that the novel wasn't fit for any other medium.
So what is it about the book the appeals so strongly to those of psychotic tendencies? There’s a real sense of isolation surrounding the protagonist, Holden Caulfield. Told solely from his perspective, the relatively uneventful novel explores his, often very emotional, opinions of other people. The description of these other people is also almost always negative and often degrading, creating an overwhelmingly pessimistic tone to the novel.
The protagonist appears to separate himself, both mentally and physically, from the rest of society who he believes are all “phonies”, apart from his little sister Phoebe whom he appears to adore.
Make of that what you will.