The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Formats: Kindle, Paperback, Hardcover
Description on Amazon: Since his debut in 1951 as “The Catcher in the Rye,” Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with “cynical adolescent.”
Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he’s been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists.
His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive), capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.
The challenges that led to the banning:
- Profanity and sexual content (including a scene with a prostitute)
- Mature and sensitive themes like death, alienation, and mental health.
- Promotes rebellion
- Negative influence: cynical, behavior
- In 1970, the novel was called racist, misogynistic, blasphemous, and one school board member called it a “communist plot.”
- And of course, the novel’s link to real-world violence, i.e. David Chapman, John Lennon’s assassin, contributed to further controversy.
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