In the Rye

Well I finally finished the catcher in the rye today.

I finished it around 9.45 on the way to work on the train. I had planned this (as I left only the final chapter from the previous night even though I had time to finish it). It is a weird feeling to finish a book first thing in the morning. It is a perfect start to a day and is highly recommended!

The book has been a strange journey. I have went from loathing the book (and Holden) but for some reason persevered until the end. It has taken an unusually long time ( few weeks or so but it is a rather short book).

But when you get to the end it all kind of makes sense and falls into place and I finally got it.

This blip is the key page for me in the book where it explains the meaning of phrase "the catcher in the rye" and it just totally changes every perception you have of Holden up until that point.

An incredible piece of writing.

~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 22, spoken by the character Holden Caulfield

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."

Do i recommend it - yes but be warned the first 100 or so pages are very off putting but stick with it and you may just get it. I did!