J.D. Salinger · 1951 · overland
J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel. Expelled from his Pennsylvania prep school a few days before Christmas, sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield cannot face going home, so he takes the train into New York and spends three restless days adrift in the city, dodging adulthood and phoniness and his own loneliness, until a meeting with his little sister Phoebe finally undoes him. The route runs from a boarding school to the streets of Manhattan.
- 1Pencey Prep
Flunking out of Pencey Prep, Holden quarrels with his roommate, packs his bags in the night, and slips away from the Pennsylvania school days before he is due home.
- 2New York City
He takes a late train into New York and checks into a seedy midtown hotel, drifting through bars and nightclubs and a tangle of half-made plans, unable to connect with anyone.
- 3Central Park
After sneaking home to see his sister Phoebe, he meets her at the edge of Central Park, and watching her ride the carousel in the rain he feels something in him break and mend at once.