Sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield has just been kicked out of Pencey Prep, another school in a series he has failed at. Rather than go home and face his parents, he leaves early and spends a couple of days wandering Manhattan in the weeks before Christmas, checking into a seedy hotel, visiting bars, calling old acquaintances and dodging the reckoning he knows is coming.
Holden narrates in a restless, slangy, digressive voice, dismissing almost everyone he meets as phony. Beneath the sarcasm lies grief for his younger brother Allie, who died of leukaemia, and a fierce protectiveness toward his little sister Phoebe, the one person he trusts completely. His encounters with a former teacher, a girlfriend and strangers reveal how lonely and fragile he is.
Salinger's novel caught the inner life of adolescence with startling honesty: the hunger for authenticity, the dread of adulthood and the wish to shield innocence. It was banned in many schools for its language and frankness, which only deepened its cult status. Readers still argue over whether Holden is a perceptive critic of society or a boy in crisis who needs help.
Book details
| Author | J. D. Salinger |
|---|---|
| First published | 1951 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Classic |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 234 |
| Setting | Pennsylvania prep school and New York City, late 1940s |
Themes
- Adolescence
- Alienation
- Grief
- Loss of innocence
- Authenticity
Who should read it
Readers who want the definitive novel of teenage disaffection, told in one of American fiction's most distinctive voices.