December 12, 2009
Book Review Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger Jon’s review was a flashback of sorts to the days of youth and first loves. A lot of us pick up J.D. Salingers most known work during our youthful years of high school. For anyone who has read Catcher in the Rye it’s instantly remembered. Love it or hate it you remember the story, you can’t forget Holden Caulfield. Unfortunately Catcher in the Rye was always accompanied by a test or study. Once we’ve written our essay on Catcher in the Rye we tended to forget all about J.D. Salinger. Catcher in the Rye was a big deal to me in my youth. I adored that book. It spoke to me like no other book before. I’m kind of amazed in myself for not devouring everything Salinger wrote. I gave Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction a go in my early twenties but it just kind of fizzled on me. With Christmas around the corner Jon and my book budget was on a freeze. So we searched our shelves to see what we both owned. We went back and forth for a bit but settled on Nine Stories. We both agreed it had been a long departure from Salinger. I was in a short story groove after reading Carvers Cathedral. Nine Stories starts off with A Perfect Day for Bananafish a gut wrenching story of a GI returning home not quite the same as the days before he left. This story gets you right between the ribs. It sticks there too. Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut is not any brighter. An alcoholic mother invites a friend of hers over for some afternoon drinks and gossip. There’s a forgotten child in this story, which made this piece of work the hardest for me to read. Sure these are dark stories. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. For Esme-with Love and Squalor is the whole reason you should read this collection of stories. Again about a GI in Paris. He spends an afternoon in a tea parlor with an amazing 13 year old girl. This story is so heartfelt, it kind of surprised me that it came form Salingers pen. Not normally this kind of writer, there’s a real sense of love in this piece. My favorite story of the book and I believe Salingers most popular short story. It was nice to reconnect with an author I had forgotten about for years. Although I didn’t get that feeling I got from Catcher in the Rye. That’s impossible and will never happen to me again. Nine Stories is marvelous. Everything you want in a book. Salinger is a master like no other. Everyone has read him and everyone should continue to do so. Perfect way to end a year. -Casey

Book Review

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

Jon’s review was a flashback of sorts to the days of youth and first loves. A lot of us pick up J.D. Salingers most known work during our youthful years of high school. For anyone who has read Catcher in the Rye it’s instantly remembered. Love it or hate it you remember the story, you can’t forget Holden Caulfield. Unfortunately Catcher in the Rye was always accompanied by a test or study. Once we’ve written our essay on Catcher in the Rye we tended to forget all about J.D. Salinger.

Catcher in the Rye was a big deal to me in my youth. I adored that book. It spoke to me like no other book before. I’m kind of amazed in myself for not devouring everything Salinger wrote. I gave Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction a go in my early twenties but it just kind of fizzled on me. With Christmas around the corner Jon and my book budget was on a freeze. So we searched our shelves to see what we both owned. We went back and forth for a bit but settled on Nine Stories. We both agreed it had been a long departure from Salinger.

I was in a short story groove after reading Carvers Cathedral. Nine Stories starts off with A Perfect Day for Bananafish a gut wrenching story of a GI returning home not quite the same as the days before he left. This story gets you right between the ribs. It sticks there too. Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut is not any brighter. An alcoholic mother invites a friend of hers over for some afternoon drinks and gossip. There’s a forgotten child in this story, which made this piece of work the hardest for me to read. Sure these are dark stories. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. For Esme-with Love and Squalor is the whole reason you should read this collection of stories. Again about a GI in Paris. He spends an afternoon in a tea parlor with an amazing 13 year old girl. This story is so heartfelt, it kind of surprised me that it came form Salingers pen. Not normally this kind of writer, there’s a real sense of love in this piece. My favorite story of the book and I believe Salingers most popular short story.

It was nice to reconnect with an author I had forgotten about for years. Although I didn’t get that feeling I got from Catcher in the Rye. That’s impossible and will never happen to me again. Nine Stories is marvelous. Everything you want in a book. Salinger is a master like no other. Everyone has read him and everyone should continue to do so. Perfect way to end a year.

-Casey