The only other book by J.D. Salinger I've read is Catcher in the Rye. I finished Franny and Zooey a few days ago and I am still thinking about it, I want to know what others think, or know about it.
It was originally two short stories made into one book, or so I've heard. It's a LOT like Catcher in that the characters smoke constantly and sound like Holden Caulfield. It had, to me, three different distinct styles that seemed to change as he wrote. It's only two "chapters" but it felt like three parts. Part 1 was like Catcher, then it got Jazzy, if you could write the way Jazz is played, the way he used the words and put them together. The final part of the book seemed to be an argument with himself over his religious beliefs, like he was trying to figure out just what he believed.
The characters were not really likeable, I'm not sure there was even a story there, but somehow I enjoyed it. It is a weird book, in that it almost seems like experimental writing, or unfinished thoughts hastily cobbled together and published to fulfill a contract or something. The first chapter, where Franny sort of has a breakdown in a restaurant, feels like an idea for a story that went nowhere, and was later attached to another idea, the second chapter, by mentioning her in it. I don't know if I would or could recommend it, but here I am, days after finishing it, still thinking about it. I have no regrets reading it, I guess I will say I liked it. The religious arguments he makes are kind of interesting.
This has nothing to do with the book, but as an aside, I had the idea if Salinger wrote Lord of the Rings it would be like :
Gandalf lit a cigarette, waved it at Frodo with an air of authority, and said "OK, listen up, willya? Are you listening? You gotta take that goddamn ring and throw it in the goddamn volcano in Mordor, do you hear me?" Frodo, stubbing out his cigarette and immediately lighting a fresh one, looked quizzically at Gandalf and said "Geez! You want me to make that whole goddamn trip? Just to throw this ring away? That's gonna take me quite a while, I'm not sure I can for Chrissake" Gandalf dragged deeply on his cigarette and, exhaling smoke through his nostrils said – or rather erupted, "Yeah pal, I do, and Sauron, that phony sonofabitch, is gonna try and stop you, but you can do it buddy, sure, you can do it. I know you can buddy."
by volitilevoid