The Catcher In The Rye: Summary The Catcher in the Rye, by R.D. Salinger, is about a sixteen-year old boy trying to grow up in an adult world, and trying to show that he is an adult. The book lasts in a four day span and the story is flashback. The book is under wide speculation by schools and parents because they say it's immoral and should be band. Holden Caulfield, the sixteen year old boy, is an Idealist, he always thinks of things as they should be not as they are. The book starts off at Pency Prep, Holden's current school at which he is flunking out of, he is only days from his expulsion from Pency and has been paying his l