‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is told from the perspective of 16 year old Holden Caufield who has just flunked out of his third school. It follows him as he tries to avoid going home to hide this and therefore spending a few days idling around New York. Salinger makes Holden the worst character to be stuck in the head of, yet in doing this perfectly captures the arrogance and superiority complex of a teenaged boy. This however does not mean it was a pleasant experience seeing the world through his eyes. Everyone of ‘phoney’ or a ‘sonuvabitch’ and the overwhelming majority of women he comes across, aside from his 8 year old sister, are completely objectified. The plot wasn’t even that great as not that much happens despite how Holden sees the few days as worth telling, I was waiting the whole time certain a major plot event would pick it up of which never happened, and there are no characters to root for as Holden is dislikable and he dislikes everyone else so much he doesn’t give them time to develop and shape the story. Whilst the depiction of the mind of a 16 year old cocky teenager was really well done, all in all the book wasn’t great, and given its reputation I did think it would be a book I liked before reading despite not knowing loads about it. All I take from it is if ever I am asked in public what I happen to be reading, “goddamn book” is certainly an optional response.