Which New York Times critic called The Catcher in the Rye an unusually brilliant novel?

New York Times critic Nash K. Burger called *The Catcher in the Rye* “an unusually brilliant novel.”

Burger was the newspaper’s reviewer who praised Salinger’s first novel shortly after its 1951 publication. His response helped establish the book as a serious literary work rather than merely a provocative story about a rebellious teenager. The review emphasized the freshness of Salinger’s portrayal of teenage speech and consciousness.

The novel’s early reception was varied. James Stern wrote an admiring review in a voice modeled on Holden Caulfield’s slangy narration, while other critics objected to the book’s profanity and its narrator’s abrasive outlook. That mixture of acclaim and disapproval became a recurring pattern throughout the novel’s history.

The name is easy to confuse with later critics. Dwight Macdonald, Michiko Kakutani, and James Wood are prominent literary critics, but none is the New York Times reviewer associated with this particular phrase. Burger’s wording is tied specifically to the novel’s initial reception in 1951.