--- title: J.D. Salinger and The Catcher in the Rye: Read TIME's Original Review description: Author J.D. Salinger died five years ago, on Jan. 27, 2010 canonical: https://time.com/3677041/catcher-in-the-rye-review/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-27T12:00:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:45:35.509Z article:section: History og:title: Read TIME's Original Review of 'The Catcher in the Rye' og:description: Author J.D. Salinger died five years ago, on Jan. 27, 2010 og:url: https://time.com/3677041/catcher-in-the-rye-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0496e9c1f0c65fd/69877b1c5f570f2095b14d6f/1101610915_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Salinger cover og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read TIME's Original Review of 'The Catcher in the Rye' twitter:description: Author J.D. Salinger died five years ago, on Jan. 27, 2010 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte0496e9c1f0c65fd/69877b1c5f570f2095b14d6f/1101610915_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read TIME's Original Review of _The Catcher in the Rye_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jan 27, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  JD Salinger on the Sept. 15, 1961, cover of TIME JD Salinger on the Sept. 15, 1961, cover of TIMECover Credit: ROBERT VICKREY by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Jan 27, 2015 12:00 PM UTC When _The Catcher in the Rye_ author J.D. Salinger died five years ago, on Jan. 27 of 2010, TIME’s [remembrance](http://time.com/vault/issue/2010-02-15/page/84/) of his life noted that he had long been “the hermit crab of American letters,” dissatisfied with his own fame and drawn to a reclusive life away from the spotlight. In fact, when he was the subject of a lengthy cover story for TIME in 1961, shortly after the publication of _Franny and Zooey_, he had already begun to recede into seclusion. Though the story is rife with biographical details — his IQ score was 104; he “played a fair game of tennis”; he was literary editor of his school yearbook — it’s absent any comment from the man himself. The cover art too drawn from a photograph, not from life. But his books, the story suggests, contain plenty of information about the man who wrote them. “For U.S. readers, the prize catch in _The Catcher in the Rye_ may well be Novelist Salinger himself,” [TIME’s original 1951 review of the book](http://time.com/vault/issue/1951-07-16/page/98/) posited. “He can understand an adolescent mind without displaying one.” That’s not all the critic had to say about the book. Here’s the full review: --- > “” --- --- > “” --- **_Read the 1961 cover story about J.D. Salinger here in the TIME Vault:_** [Sonny](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-09-15/page/84/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3677041/catcher-in-the-rye-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3677041/catcher-in-the-rye-review/"},"headline":"Read TIME's Original Review of The Catcher in the Rye","datePublished":"2015-01-27T12:00:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:45:35.509Z","description":"Author J.D. 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