Category: J. D. Salinger
book of books – Franny and Zooey
I’m not sure if there is much left now by J.D.Salinger that the library has or if there is any more to read. Most of his short story collections have now been covered and at the end you are left appreciating the power of his imagination. The creation of the fictional Glass family is so believable that you keep falling into the mistake of believing that Buddy is J.D himself and his brother must have committed suicide. Over the course of the collections Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and For Esme with Love and Squalor there are all the pieces of the jigsaw to put together not only what happened with Seymour but how his suicide impacted on the key members in the rest of the family.
Like the other two short story collections these stories run into each other both in terms of chronology and the issues being covered. The clever thing is that if you read them with reference to the other it would still work as a readable and provoking piece of fiction.
Plot Summary
Franny
Franny Glass turns up to meet her boyfriend Lane and rather than just sit their and look pretty and go along to the ball game and make him look good and agree with what he says she picks holes. She starts by undermining his college paper and then starts to reveal her loathing for those who teach at her college and starts talking about phonies. One of the most important revelations is that she has given up acting, something she is very good at, because she feels everyone else involved is a phoney. Lane struggles to cope with her mood and Franny goes to the restroom for air and starts crying and clinging onto a book. The book turns out to be about a Russian peasant who believes that with the aid of knowledge about the ‘Jesus Prayer’ can harmonise with God. She tells Lane all about this but he doesn’t really understand and then as she announces that she is going to the restroom again she collapses and the weekend is effectively over.
Zooey
Things start with Zooey in the bath reading a letter that is four years old from his brother Buddy advising him not to become an actor without first having completed his PhD. Then Bessie Glass (the mother) walks in and starts annoying him and trying to get his opinion on what is wrong with Franny who is prostrate on the couch and has been off her food and causing concern since being sent home from her weekend with Lane. Zooey takes an age to get ready, is obviously a man of great confidence and appears to be off for a lunch date with a director when he turns into the room where Franny is lying on the sofa. Zooey knows all about the Jesus Prayer and attempts to use a combination of psycho analysis and bullying to get her to snap out of it but fails. He leaves the room and again you assume he is leaving the apartment but he heads to Buddy and Seymour’s room and using the private phone in their old bedroom phones pretending to be Buddy and asks to speak to Franny. he doesn’t fool her for long and you sense he is about the blow it again when he wears his heart on his sleeve admits he feels the way that she does but adds that everyone might be a fool but you carry on because there might be someone with quality among the audience and she is born to act. The message seems to get through and she climbs into her mothers bed and both Franny and Zooey have come to a point where they realise that although their brother’s Buddy and Seymour might have indoctrinated them they did so wisely.
Is it well written?
The stories work particularly well back to back and leave you with a sense of calm after the damage of years of superior thinking are corrected and pointed in the right direction in the younger of the Glass family children. But on their own the stories work with Franny showing the strain of trying to lap up the rubbish that everyone else pedals and falls for. Zooey is also facing that same struggle and reacts with bitterness to those he sees as idiotic. The result is that in their own way both are unhappy and blame their brothers for hard wiring them to think like that. But equally their brothers taught them to be the best you can be regardless of the intellectual depth of those around you and it is that lesson that saves both Franny and Zooey in the end. The fact that the larger issue can carry over until the final paragraph is because of the intelligence in the writing and a confidence with the material. You really believe these people exist at points.
Should it be read?
As I have said after reading some of the other short story collections it is important to see a writer in the round and the mistake of just going for Catcher in the Rye is that although a great book it shows only one side to Salinger. Here is characterisation, within a family, that is stretched over several books of which this is just one. There is an eye for detail and an understanding about the journey the reader is on that makes it a lot easier to read these books with you feeling that you are putting the jigsaw pieces of the Glass family together in a very satisfying way – like collecting a complete set of something. It also reminds you that great writing can take many forms and has the power to provoke and challenge even over 29 pages – the length of the Franny story.
Summary
Hold your head up high no matter how bitter and twisted you feel inside because if you have the talent you have to let it shine.
Version read – Penguin paperback
book of books – Franny and Zooey
I’m not sure if there is much left now by J.D.Salinger that the library has or if there is any more to read. Most of his short story collections have now been covered and at the end you are left appreciating the power of his imagination. The creation of the fictional Glass family is so believable that you keep falling into the mistake of believing that Buddy is J.D himself and his brother must have committed suicide. Over the course of the collections Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and For Esme with Love and Squalor there are all the pieces of the jigsaw to put together not only what happened with Seymour but how his suicide impacted on the key members in the rest of the family.
Like the other two short story collections these stories run into each other both in terms of chronology and the issues being covered. The clever thing is that if you read them with reference to the other it would still work as a readable and provoking piece of fiction.
Plot Summary
Franny
Franny Glass turns up to meet her boyfriend Lane and rather than just sit their and look pretty and go along to the ball game and make him look good and agree with what he says she picks holes. She starts by undermining his college paper and then starts to reveal her loathing for those who teach at her college and starts talking about phonies. One of the most important revelations is that she has given up acting, something she is very good at, because she feels everyone else involved is a phoney. Lane struggles to cope with her mood and Franny goes to the restroom for air and starts crying and clinging onto a book. The book turns out to be about a Russian peasant who believes that with the aid of knowledge about the ‘Jesus Prayer’ can harmonise with God. She tells Lane all about this but he doesn’t really understand and then as she announces that she is going to the restroom again she collapses and the weekend is effectively over.
Zooey
Things start with Zooey in the bath reading a letter that is four years old from his brother Buddy advising him not to become an actor without first having completed his PhD. Then Bessie Glass (the mother) walks in and starts annoying him and trying to get his opinion on what is wrong with Franny who is prostrate on the couch and has been off her food and causing concern since being sent home from her weekend with Lane. Zooey takes an age to get ready, is obviously a man of great confidence and appears to be off for a lunch date with a director when he turns into the room where Franny is lying on the sofa. Zooey knows all about the Jesus Prayer and attempts to use a combination of psycho analysis and bullying to get her to snap out of it but fails. He leaves the room and again you assume he is leaving the apartment but he heads to Buddy and Seymour’s room and using the private phone in their old bedroom phones pretending to be Buddy and asks to speak to Franny. he doesn’t fool her for long and you sense he is about the blow it again when he wears his heart on his sleeve admits he feels the way that she does but adds that everyone might be a fool but you carry on because there might be someone with quality among the audience and she is born to act. The message seems to get through and she climbs into her mothers bed and both Franny and Zooey have come to a point where they realise that although their brother’s Buddy and Seymour might have indoctrinated them they did so wisely.
Is it well written?
The stories work particularly well back to back and leave you with a sense of calm after the damage of years of superior thinking are corrected and pointed in the right direction in the younger of the Glass family children. But on their own the stories work with Franny showing the strain of trying to lap up the rubbish that everyone else pedals and falls for. Zooey is also facing that same struggle and reacts with bitterness to those he sees as idiotic. The result is that in their own way both are unhappy and blame their brothers for hard wiring them to think like that. But equally their brothers taught them to be the best you can be regardless of the intellectual depth of those around you and it is that lesson that saves both Franny and Zooey in the end. The fact that the larger issue can carry over until the final paragraph is because of the intelligence in the writing and a confidence with the material. You really believe these people exist at points.
Should it be read?
As I have said after reading some of the other short story collections it is important to see a writer in the round and the mistake of just going for Catcher in the Rye is that although a great book it shows only one side to Salinger. Here is characterisation, within a family, that is stretched over several books of which this is just one. There is an eye for detail and an understanding about the journey the reader is on that makes it a lot easier to read these books with you feeling that you are putting the jigsaw pieces of the Glass family together in a very satisfying way – like collecting a complete set of something. It also reminds you that great writing can take many forms and has the power to provoke and challenge even over 29 pages – the length of the Franny story.
Summary
Hold your head up high no matter how bitter and twisted you feel inside because if you have the talent you have to let it shine.
Version read – Penguin paperback
book of books – Franny and Zooey
I’m not sure if there is much left now by J.D.Salinger that the library has or if there is any more to read. Most of his short story collections have now been covered and at the end you are left appreciating the power of his imagination. The creation of the fictional Glass family is so believable that you keep falling into the mistake of believing that Buddy is J.D himself and his brother must have committed suicide. Over the course of the collections Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and For Esme with Love and Squalor there are all the pieces of the jigsaw to put together not only what happened with Seymour but how his suicide impacted on the key members in the rest of the family.
Like the other two short story collections these stories run into each other both in terms of chronology and the issues being covered. The clever thing is that if you read them with reference to the other it would still work as a readable and provoking piece of fiction.
Plot Summary
Franny
Franny Glass turns up to meet her boyfriend Lane and rather than just sit their and look pretty and go along to the ball game and make him look good and agree with what he says she picks holes. She starts by undermining his college paper and then starts to reveal her loathing for those who teach at her college and starts talking about phonies. One of the most important revelations is that she has given up acting, something she is very good at, because she feels everyone else involved is a phoney. Lane struggles to cope with her mood and Franny goes to the restroom for air and starts crying and clinging onto a book. The book turns out to be about a Russian peasant who believes that with the aid of knowledge about the ‘Jesus Prayer’ can harmonise with God. She tells Lane all about this but he doesn’t really understand and then as she announces that she is going to the restroom again she collapses and the weekend is effectively over.
Zooey
Things start with Zooey in the bath reading a letter that is four years old from his brother Buddy advising him not to become an actor without first having completed his PhD. Then Bessie Glass (the mother) walks in and starts annoying him and trying to get his opinion on what is wrong with Franny who is prostrate on the couch and has been off her food and causing concern since being sent home from her weekend with Lane. Zooey takes an age to get ready, is obviously a man of great confidence and appears to be off for a lunch date with a director when he turns into the room where Franny is lying on the sofa. Zooey knows all about the Jesus Prayer and attempts to use a combination of psycho analysis and bullying to get her to snap out of it but fails. He leaves the room and again you assume he is leaving the apartment but he heads to Buddy and Seymour’s room and using the private phone in their old bedroom phones pretending to be Buddy and asks to speak to Franny. he doesn’t fool her for long and you sense he is about the blow it again when he wears his heart on his sleeve admits he feels the way that she does but adds that everyone might be a fool but you carry on because there might be someone with quality among the audience and she is born to act. The message seems to get through and she climbs into her mothers bed and both Franny and Zooey have come to a point where they realise that although their brother’s Buddy and Seymour might have indoctrinated them they did so wisely.
Is it well written?
The stories work particularly well back to back and leave you with a sense of calm after the damage of years of superior thinking are corrected and pointed in the right direction in the younger of the Glass family children. But on their own the stories work with Franny showing the strain of trying to lap up the rubbish that everyone else pedals and falls for. Zooey is also facing that same struggle and reacts with bitterness to those he sees as idiotic. The result is that in their own way both are unhappy and blame their brothers for hard wiring them to think like that. But equally their brothers taught them to be the best you can be regardless of the intellectual depth of those around you and it is that lesson that saves both Franny and Zooey in the end. The fact that the larger issue can carry over until the final paragraph is because of the intelligence in the writing and a confidence with the material. You really believe these people exist at points.
Should it be read?
As I have said after reading some of the other short story collections it is important to see a writer in the round and the mistake of just going for Catcher in the Rye is that although a great book it shows only one side to Salinger. Here is characterisation, within a family, that is stretched over several books of which this is just one. There is an eye for detail and an understanding about the journey the reader is on that makes it a lot easier to read these books with you feeling that you are putting the jigsaw pieces of the Glass family together in a very satisfying way – like collecting a complete set of something. It also reminds you that great writing can take many forms and has the power to provoke and challenge even over 29 pages – the length of the Franny story.
Summary
Hold your head up high no matter how bitter and twisted you feel inside because if you have the talent you have to let it shine.
Version read – Penguin paperback
Lunchtime read: Franny and Zooey
The book ends with both of the characters covered in this two story collection having a moment when the truth is spelt out in order to save them from falling apart struggling to be normal. Zooey plays an interesting role as psychoanalyst, damaged brother and bitter actor but pushes himself into places he would have otherwise avoided to try to help his sister Franny snap out of her despair.
Highlights from pages 106 – 131
After having failed to pull Franny out of her breakdown with his bitter logical arguments about the Jesus prayer and what sort of person Jesus was Zooey walks out of the lounge. You suspect he is leaving for the lunch appointment he has mentioned several times but instead he heads for Seymour and Buddy’s room and from them after an hour of getting into the role phones up pretending to be Buddy. Franny comes on the line and attacks Zooey for being bitter and lecturing and then she realises that it is Zooey and finally her brother gets through to her.
The turning point is when he tells her that without her knowledge Zooey and Buddy travelled up to see her act in a college play. He tells her she was brilliant but there is no point being superior to some segments of the audience because looking for a good audience is a search that will destroy her. She should enjoy the talent she has and accept that the world is not full of similarly minded people.
A review will follow this weekend…
Lunchtime read: Franny and Zooey
The book ends with both of the characters covered in this two story collection having a moment when the truth is spelt out in order to save them from falling apart struggling to be normal. Zooey plays an interesting role as psychoanalyst, damaged brother and bitter actor but pushes himself into places he would have otherwise avoided to try to help his sister Franny snap out of her despair.
Highlights from pages 106 – 131
After having failed to pull Franny out of her breakdown with his bitter logical arguments about the Jesus prayer and what sort of person Jesus was Zooey walks out of the lounge. You suspect he is leaving for the lunch appointment he has mentioned several times but instead he heads for Seymour and Buddy’s room and from them after an hour of getting into the role phones up pretending to be Buddy. Franny comes on the line and attacks Zooey for being bitter and lecturing and then she realises that it is Zooey and finally her brother gets through to her.
The turning point is when he tells her that without her knowledge Zooey and Buddy travelled up to see her act in a college play. He tells her she was brilliant but there is no point being superior to some segments of the audience because looking for a good audience is a search that will destroy her. She should enjoy the talent she has and accept that the world is not full of similarly minded people.
A review will follow this weekend…
Lunchtime read: Franny and Zooey
These two stories in this book complement each other well because both characters are flawed as a result of their upbringing and experiences in the public eye on a radio show. Although Franny is seeking some sort of solace in religion her brother is not that far behind her in trying to seek some comfort from somewhere and has even considered going down the prayer route himself.
Highlights from pages 82 – 106
Zooey starts to provoke Franny into talking about her current state of mind and admits after she starts to explain that she thinks most people in her college are phonies that he thinks the same about people in films and television. But then he moves on to question her ‘hair shirt’ approach saying that although there is nothing wrong with having something against the system but she is making it too personal. He adds that her actions are also unfair because they are disturbing their parents.
Whether or not this lecture has any impact will become clear in the last twenty or so pages…
Lunchtime read: Franny and Zooey
These two stories in this book complement each other well because both characters are flawed as a result of their upbringing and experiences in the public eye on a radio show. Although Franny is seeking some sort of solace in religion her brother is not that far behind her in trying to seek some comfort from somewhere and has even considered going down the prayer route himself.
Highlights from pages 82 – 106
Zooey starts to provoke Franny into talking about her current state of mind and admits after she starts to explain that she thinks most people in her college are phonies that he thinks the same about people in films and television. But then he moves on to question her ‘hair shirt’ approach saying that although there is nothing wrong with having something against the system but she is making it too personal. He adds that her actions are also unfair because they are disturbing their parents.
Whether or not this lecture has any impact will become clear in the last twenty or so pages…
Lunchtime read: Franny and Zooey
The relationship between mother and son is strained as she looks to him to provide help and answers for Franny’s current condition. While she focuses on her daughter it is subtly clear that Zooey himself also needs some attention but that is not going to be forthcoming. Realising that the focus only seems to fall on the child that is in obvious trouble explains why both Zooey and Buddy are left to carry on their troubled lives because they have not broken down visibly.
Highlights between pages 70 – 82 (not much today)
After being badgered by his mother to speak to Franny about what is wrong with her Zooey tells her about the books she has been reading and about the incessant praying that the Russian peasant has managed to get to. The mother seems slightly relieved that Zooey seems to know what is going on and asks him to talk to Franny, something that despite initially seemingly to be uninterested, he does agree to do.
More tomorrow…
Lunchtime read: Franny and Zooey
The relationship between mother and son is strained as she looks to him to provide help and answers for Franny’s current condition. While she focuses on her daughter it is subtly clear that Zooey himself also needs some attention but that is not going to be forthcoming. Realising that the focus only seems to fall on the child that is in obvious trouble explains why both Zooey and Buddy are left to carry on their troubled lives because they have not broken down visibly.
Highlights between pages 70 – 82 (not much today)
After being badgered by his mother to speak to Franny about what is wrong with her Zooey tells her about the books she has been reading and about the incessant praying that the Russian peasant has managed to get to. The mother seems slightly relieved that Zooey seems to know what is going on and asks him to talk to Franny, something that despite initially seemingly to be uninterested, he does agree to do.
More tomorrow…
Lunchtime read: Franny and Zooey
Salinger interweaves his stories so it is no surprise that this moves onto dealing with the consequences of Franny’s mental problems outlined in the first story. Having returned home still gabbling about prayers and not eating the family have to deal with her and that is the cause of tension.
Highlights from pages 48 – 70
Zooey and his mother are in the bathroom talking and then arguing about how to treat Franny who is still not eating and reading her religious books. Zooey points out that not only are the books from Seymour’s room but there are deep problems in the family that have never really been addressed that focus on the way Buddy and Seymour, the two oldest boys influenced their younger siblings. Zooey expresses rage at the way they indoctrinated them and then points out that no one is able to deal with Seymour’s suicide. Mrs Glass listens but provokes by talking of her desire to get a psychoanalyst involved with Franny.
More tomorrow…
inside books 