Franny and Zooey

J D Salinger

This seems to be a novel about the metaphysical side of life. However, as the narrator asserts, it...more

This seems to be a novel about the metaphysical side of life. However, as the narrator asserts, it is a novel first and foremost about love. It is about what is probably the most simple and pure love we are capable of producing – love for all people for no reason other than their shared humanity.Whatever one thinks about Salinger's wit, this novel is absolutely dripping with it, so readers will either love it or hate it.The novel is told in such a way that the reader is forced to actively engage in what is happening; to think about possible previous and future events – indeed, evening the ending is indeterminate and open to interpretation.Early in the novel, Salinger also unleashes a fairly scathing attack on upper-middle class bourgeois intellectual society, enough to make even the most ignorant or self-denying egotist squirm in his seat as he faces self recognition in the novel’s pages.A very thought provoking piece of literature on love, the importance of knowledge and egotism.   hide

I completely agree...JD Salinger has a way of reaching people on such a real level. The way he...more

I completely agree...JD Salinger has a way of reaching people on such a real level. The way he captures his characters and their "realness" and their internal struggles never ceases to amaze me. Hands down one of my favorite authors of all time. Franny and Zooey asks the questions about religion that most of us refuse to vocalize, and he captures it so brilliantly! If anyone has read Nine Stories...is it possible that A Perfect Day for Bananafish was about Seymour? I just had a thought and I was trying to parallel the stories, but I don't have my copy of Nine Stories with me, so I don't know for sure...   hide

Read an old and very important letter while simultaneously bathing, shaving and smoking. Those...more

Read an old and very important letter while simultaneously bathing, shaving and smoking. Those glass kids ARE talented and I always attempt to replicate this stunt whenever conditions allow. An old, steam-dog-eared copy of F & Z tends to serve as an appropriate substitute for the letter as long as you've time and enough cigarettes. If you have read the book enough times for enough years it's like an old letter anyway. Get to know it. It's a constant friend that changes as you do.   hide

This is the book that blew my little literary world wide-open. Martin (below) has got it right on...more

This is the book that blew my little literary world wide-open. Martin (below) has got it right on when he speaks about Salinger's fantastic characterization. Franny, Zooey, the whole Glass family, and their ghosts and memories of Glass-passed... they were in the room with me. And when Zooey talks about Christianity and the difference between that and Christ, that conversation is one a person has wordlessly in their own soul, if they're lucky. And Salinger gets it! This book is more than a novel, it's an understandble, real-life, disection, debate, and unanswerable question about religion and philosophy. Did I mention that I enjoyed it?   hide

I'm one of those weird people who didn't like Catcher in the Rye. However, Salinger can kick ASS...more

I'm one of those weird people who didn't like Catcher in the Rye. However, Salinger can kick ASS at the shorter stories. Franny and Zooey basically takes place in only three conversations, that last of which is sort of like a long monologue. It's not for everyone, but I absolutely loved it. How all of this thought could float through Salinger's head and end up so beautifully sorted and written is beyond me, but I won't question it. So real and so smart, at the same time. Philosophical genius.   hide