Reviews tagging Death

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

45 reviews

katniss_li's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, and Sexual content

Minor: Death

mikala's review

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

i liked that this book was easy to follow as it just focuses on holdens thoughts and opinions. that being said, nothing really happens in this book. the parts of holdens life that slowly unravel and give you an idea of why he’s so depressed are interesting, but you can only listen to a privileged white man whine so much to be honest.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Alcohol, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death

Minor: Homophobia and Sexual harassment

luckyone's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, Cursing, Death, Grief, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual content

logsbooklog's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

reading this, it was pretty evident to me why this is a classic. it’s one of those books where you can’t analyze it without revealing pieces of yourself. holden can be relatable, insufferable, deeply mentally ill, and any combination thereof, but how you come out viewing him will vary with your experiences. he’s an extremely compelling protagonist with clear unresolved trauma and identity issues that makes him easy to root for even as he’s making all the wrong choices.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Blood, Death, and Violence

liz_e's review

challenging dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The suicidal urges, the violent thoughts, the hate he’s internalized for himself— people around him— the world— the impulses, the urge to just make things worse. He’s miserable. There’s just this glimmer of hope and love that keeps him hanging on. And I understand why some people think all of these thoughts are unrealistic… but as someone living With depression… it’s the most realistic thing I’ve ever read. This book is so important to me. I only wish it didn’t come from the point of view of a terribly sexist kid. But it does. So it’s complicated. But it’s important. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

ffrank's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, and Homophobia

miitine's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, Alcohol, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

sara_berlin's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

In one word: overrated. 
I can admit that it wasn’t as terrible as I thought at the start, but it’s definitely not a masterpiece or one of the best books ever. Honestly I considered dnfing it but I wanted to finish it so I could a) say I’ve read it and b) properly trash it. 

If this was released today and critiqued as a piece of literature, I don’t think it would get good reviews. I will never understand how this is some people’s favorite book. 
The actual process of reading it was not fun and not worth what little I got out of it. Sure, there’s some interesting (although in my opinion pretty basic) reflections, and Holden is a somewhat interesting character, but beyond that, there wasn’t much substance.
I feel like if it was at least fun to read I would’ve given it a pass for not have any like “lesson” or “deep meaning”, although I would still not consider it one of the best books of all time. I probably just have very high standards for classics, I mean something had to make it so popular and everlasting. but this was not that good. Honestly I only actually liked the last part, but the rest of the book was quite a bore. I dunno, I kind of get the point of it, but it wasn’t for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Cursing, Violence, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

Minor: Pedophilia, Lesbophobia, and Child abuse

evawertz's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is one of the few books where I felt like mental illness was shown from the perspective of the person experiencing the mental illness in a very accurate way. Holden's superiority complex is precisely how it is to have one in real life, you feel justified to point out everything you find wrong in people while excusing your even worse faults. You act rashly because everything seems to lack value and time zooms by or stretches on forever in your mind. Unlike most books, there's not a final destination or moment in someone's life that completes the book. The book is a snippet of the plain but complex days in someone's life. There is no happy or sad ending just a pause and let's see what happens. It portrays how life isn't a story with a perfect beginning to end and how you never know what's next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Cursing, Alcohol, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Bullying, Child death, Death, Blood, Gore, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/injury detail, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Vomit, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Excrement, Vomit, and Addiction

teaskate's review against another edition

inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The Book was fine.It was not a bad read but I did get a bit sleepy ,while reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Mental illness

Moderate: Racial slurs, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Racism, and Sexism