JD Salinger's heart catcher is a monument to American and world literature. From universal literature so much this book has been and still is so valuable to many readers. It dates from 1951. The catcher in the Rye is its original title. It would sell another 250,000 each year. 60 million in all since its publication.
The transition to adulthood
We follow the route of the young Holden Caulfield, in New York. He is 16 years old and has just been fired from his college just before Christmas. But he does not want to go home, to his parents. So, he fled and will wander in New York for 3 days. It's cold. Young Holden Caulfield does not know where to go. He has a little money, he finds himself a room in a shabby hotel. And he makes some unlikely encounters. Prostitutes, a former teacher who gives him a roof for the night. He walks in Central Park, he is a little lost and he finally experiences life in what is tough and violent. He goes on to adulthood.
A very particular style
The novel is written in the first person. We are in the mind of this teenager. And especially his language is that of a teenager. A language spoken, familiar, slang, grammatically approximate and that's what gives the novel its strength and authenticity.
The book, with this style, was a shock at the time. We were not used to what an author would write like that. The catcher was a huge success, but its author, Jerome-David Salinger was stunned by this notoriety. After The Catcher , he released Franny and Zooey, some news and that's about it. The writer took refuge in total isolation in the heart of New Hampshire, Cornish, in the late 1950s. And we will hear almost no more about him. Salinger became a true hermit and died in 2010.