About The Catcher in the Rye

Expelled from yet another prep school, sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield spends three restless days adrift in New York City, dodging adulthood and railing against the "phonies" he sees everywhere. J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel is narrated entirely in Holden's unmistakable voice — cynical, funny, and quietly heartbroken.

Beneath the bravado is a boy grieving his younger brother and terrified of growing up, who dreams only of catching children before they fall off a cliff at the edge of a rye field.

Why read it: One of the most influential coming-of-age novels ever written, and a defining portrait of adolescent alienation.