bonitazivot's reviews
72 reviews

The catcher in the Rhye? It killed me. It really did.

I heard a lot of mixed reviews on this one, and tried to go in trying to analyze both sides. Why is it a classic and why do so many people hate it?

Personally I thought it was... just alright. Maybe a 5.5 out of 10. Thinking back on my teen years and feeling like I didn't belong, I could somehow relate to Holden. Of course, you're going to feel sad and I remember constantly wanting to disappear because I felt like no one understood me. Ya know, typical teen stuff.

Somewhere halfway through the book, it kinda reminded me of the movie adaptation of Into the Wild. And before you tell me off, just hear me out! Imagine old Christopher McCandles in his late teens, upset as hell about the high expectations of our society and how you always do the best, so you can be the best, so others can see you are the best. Then read this quote from The Catcher In The Rhye: 
"You ought to go to a boys' school sometime. Try it sometime", I said. "It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day..." - P141

I agree with some of the reviews claiming the book doesn't quite have a plot. It really doesn't, but when reading between the lines, it makes you think it's about trying to find where you belong. 

Anyway, that's all I'm going to tell about. No spoilers or anything. If you like it, that s up to you but I thought it was just alright. I really did.

I read this book in Dutch when I was about 15 years old and hated it. As a teen, being obsessed with Bella and Edward's relationship, I felt personally broken up with, and Bella's depression following the break-up left me in tears many times. I remember just being so disappointed in this book, after how beautiful I thought their romance was in Twilight. I felt betrayed, abandoned, nearly as depressed as Bella seemed to be. Back then I rated this book a 4/10.

Now, over 10 years later, I re-read the book in English. I was dreading having to get through this book again, knowing how much I disliked it the first time around but I must say, it exceeded my expectations. The book was definitely heavily melodramatic at times (say, 90% of the book) and Bella's behavior was so damn frustrating. The girl is barely 17, and although I get that brings up loads of teenage drama, I just wanted to shout at her: 'get a damn life, girl!' - Oh and I almost forgot to mention, she's about as manipulative as Edward, playing poor Jacob's heart just so she can feel closer to her ex-lover. 
Overall, I did find myself easily picking up this book and reading for hours on end. I'd rate it a 6/10 now!

I found this book at a little secondhand bookshop in Italy, and I'm happy I picked it up! 

My real rating is a 3.5, the only reason being that I didn't feel the storyline was very exciting. Zoe's love life wasn't exactly relevant to the plot, yet there was a big focus on it, and the reveal didn't feel grand or surprising. I didn't see it coming, per say, but it just wasn't written in a way that blew me off my socks. 

So why still a 3.5 when I don't seem to be impressed? I really enjoyed the writing style. It was very easy to get through. Besides, I found Zoe very likeable and it was fun reading from her perspective. The writing style makes me look forward to reading more of the Zoe-series and I would recommend it to people looking for an easy read on vacation!