Synopsis: Holden Caulfield, student who makes a habit of being expelled finds himself yet again adrift instead of going home he decides to spend some time in New York before facing his family. 

 

Review: This is a classic published in 1951 that I have heard about but never read before, I remember someone telling me once that this novel was their favourite and they would re-read it every year so I have always been intrigued to read it myself.  It is interesting because you start out with a perception of someone - Holden, a dropout who seems to hate almost everything  (except his sister) and is annoyed by everything but slowly the layers are peeled back and Holden grows on you and you realise that he is a very troubled young man with a past that haunts him.  You get inside his head as he rambles on interminably random facts about his past, his thoughts on everything and everyone in his life as he travels to and wanders around New York.  An interesting and fascinating read.  

 

I wondered when I read it why it has never been filmed admittedly it would be extremely difficult but apparently it is to do with those who hold J.D. Salinger’s works in trust and their reluctance to allow anyone to do so.