I know that some readers may hate me for this review. I was excited but then also wary about reading this book. I really liked Catcher in the Rye, but I remember not quite understanding it so I went into it thinking to take a closer look. Well, I guess I wasn't in the mood to think deeply and mainly just read for the story which of course was quite odd. There were moments of wonderful speeches and eye opening perspectives but I only glanced at them it seems.
Volume containing two interrelated stories by J.D. Salinger, published in book form in 1961. The stories, originally published in The New Yorker magazine, concern Franny and Zooey Glass, two members of the family that was the subject of most of Salinger's short fiction. Franny is an intellectually precocious late adolescent who tries to attain spiritual purification by obsessively reiterating the "Jesus prayer" as an antidote to the perceived superficiality and corruptness of life. She subsequently suffers a nervous breakdown. In the second story, her next older brother, Zooey, attempts to heal Franny by pointing out that her constant repetition of the "Jesus prayer" is as self-involved and egotistical as the egotism against which she rails.
Review by The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
This was a book club book and the girl who chose it is a J.D. Salinger fan and has read everything he has written and everything about him. She did an amazing job leading the discussion, raising questions that I hadn't thought about and shedding a bit more light on to the themes of the book. That helped me appreciate the book somewhat. I think I will read this book again someday when I feel like being deep and analyzing themes. Who knows when that will be. For some people, an understanding of J.D. Salinger comes naturally, but I am not one of those people.
9 comments:
I'm not sure that I would love this book either. Salinger has just never held any appeal to me.
Hmmm, this is on my TBR list, but it isn't a high priority for me right now. I think it's even lower on my priority scale now that I've read your review. I'm sure I'll get around to it someday.
It's on my list also. Did Ben recommend it very highly? Maybe someday, but I just finished The Brothers Karamazov and I can tell that thinking deeply is not high on my list of priorities.
oh my gosh. you finished already!?! That is crazy. I am so jealous of your reading speed.
It was abridged.
I really liked it. Then again, I got right into Saliner's stories about the Glass family.
That's depressing, I loved Franny and Zoey. (I think I did a review of it on my blog a while ago.) Salinger writes great dialouge.
I'm a little sad that I didn't like it as much. It makes me think I'm not as smart as I thought I was. Maybe if I read the other books about the Glass family I can appreciate it more.
"Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction" is a Salinger book you should try. I think that reading this book first would have been a better choice.
Post a Comment