The Catcher in the Rye/Franny and Zooey/Nine Stories/Raise High the Roof Beam

by J.D. Salinger

A boxed set comprising hardcover editions of four works of fiction by J. D. The Catcher in the Rye, Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour--An Introduction.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Literature, The United States Of America, Short Stories

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Works, most notably novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951), of American writer Jerome David Salinger often concern troubled, sensitive adolescents.

People well know this author for his reclusive nature. He published his last original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980. Reared in city of New York, Salinger began short stories in secondary school and published several stories in the early 1940s before serving in World War II. In 1948, he published the critically acclaimed story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in The New Yorker, his subsequent home magazine. He released an immediate popular success. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield especially influenced adolescent readers. Widely read and controversial, sells a quarter-million copies a year.

The success led to public attention and scrutiny: reclusive, he published new work less frequently. He followed with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953), of a novella and a short story, Franny and Zooey (1961), and a collection of two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). His last published work, a novella entitled "Hapworth 16, 1924", appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965.

Afterward, Salinger struggled with unwanted attention, including a legal battle in the 1980s with biographer Ian Hamilton. In the late 1990s, Joyce Maynard, a close ex-lover, and Margaret Salinger, his daughter, wrote and released his memoirs. In 1996, a small publisher announced a deal with Salinger to publish "Hapworth 16, 1924" in book form, but the ensuing publicity indefinitely delayed the release.

Another writer used one of his characters, resulting in copyright infringement; he filed a lawsuit against this writer and afterward made headlines around the globe in June 2009. Salinger died of natural causes at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Nora Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Catcher in the Rye truly zeros in on maturing and the fear that comes with that journey. Holden is forced to find a new life path after getting kicked out of school, which is hard to grasp for him. While he should be taking steps towards success, he lets the fear of growing up get the best of him and acts like a child running away from his problems. Eventually, he finds support in loved ones and finds strength to help himself as well. This is when he can finally start a new adventure, a better adventure, seeking a sufficient plan regarding what’s next. After running around NYC and avoiding his family at all costs, it’s time to buck up, face reality, and be an adult.

[lisete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lugesin järgmisi novelle:
”Vaene onu Vemmelsäär”
”Roosisuu ja silmad rohelised”
”Just enne sõda eskimotega”
”Naerev mees”

Ja olen endiselt kindel, et kui keegi soovib õppida novellide kirjutamist, siis lugegu Salingeri!

[Tripmastermonkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

the book i'm really giving such a good review to is Franny and Zooey (although i've read the others- well, parts of nine stories...). now, it's been a while, but mr. salinger's ability to mix sadness with humor is part of why this book is worth reading- the humor doesn't ignore the sadness... and i like mr. salinger's obsession with zen stories- it makes me happy.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read all of these before, but I bought myself this set for the 60th anniversary of The Catcher in the Rye.

I was in love with Salinger as a young girl. My older sister got assigned the books. I read them for her and helped her write reports, despite the fact that I'm nearly eight years younger than she is. I wonder if she's ever read them herself? No matter, after Catcher & Franny and Zooey I couldn't get enough. I was horrified when I had "finished all the good books" and reread repeatedly as a youngster.

I've always wanted "nice" copies (or at least not dog-eared and messed up) of the complete Salinger. This is as close as I could get. When they arrived, I really argued with myself about opening the box or just keeping it pristine to give to younger family members when they are old enough, but I couldn't help myself. I allowed myself to linger over passages and laugh, cry or whatever the case may be. No matter how many times I've read some of these pieces, they remain constantly fresh and like a best friend coming to visit after many years. You know their features and stories, but the warmth in your heart is impossible to express. That's how rereading this boxed set of J.D. Salinger was for me -- some 35-40 years after our first introduction. I will admit, at first I was a bit nervous. Would they hold up to the mighty Salinger of my memories, but never fear - they are as wonderful the 30th time as the first, or maybe better. And now I have "nice" copies of this set, which I will cherish for a long time.

This set: It's lovely, plain, simple, complete & the box is sturdy enough to protect the collection of hardcover books. It was affordable when I bought mine in 2014. Not sure if it still is, but if you're a fan, this is a nice set to have.

[Lukas Stauderman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, to be a wonderful book, one that I truly enjoyed. I thought it was fascinating how the author got inside of the main character's head, Holden Caulfield, a sixteen year old boy from Pennsylvania. The novel takes place on a long weekend during the late 1940's or early 1950's in Pennsylvania as well as New York. The story begins where Holden describes his stay at the fancy boarding school in Pennsylvania called Pency Prep.

The story is told through the voice of young Holden, who is reflecting on the events that have recently occurred. He is dealing with a psychological conflict where part of him wants to grow up and mature as an adult, while the other part of him wants to act and remain a child. We see a good example of this as he tries to interact with other people, he becomes conflicted whether to interact with them as an adult, or as a child.

The title, Catcher in the Rye, has to do with the song, “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye,” by Robert Burns. I that Holden begins singing as he is walking through the streets. When asked what he wants to do with his life by a friend, Holden replies with an image from the song. He states that he would like to protect the children from falling off the edge of the cliff by “catching” them if they were on the verge of tumbling over.

I enjoyed this book, and I would defiantly recommend it. It is a sad book during some parts, and very sad at others, but overall, a great book. As you read the book, the main theme of loneliness and self-protection, never feeling "good enough" about oneself. The inability to know when to grow up from childish acts is also demonstrated throughout the novel, as shown by the example of various interactions with other people.

[Moksha09 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish they listed these books separately. Fabulous author, intense characters with good stories. Real people litter his stories with humanity and a touch of hope. To Esme with Love and Squalor may be my favourite short story ever.

[Robert Vaughan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salinger at his best. I love these stories.

[Diann Blakely]

Time Warner recently reissued four popular titles--THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, NINE STORIES, FRANNY AND ZOOEY, and RAISE HIGH THE ROOF BEAM, CARPENTERS, and SEYMOUR: AN INTRODUCTION as part of the publisher’s “Teen Reads” division. The rubric calls to mind both Norman Mailer’s famous dismissal of Salinger—“the best mind that never got out of prep school”—and the strange, unsavory tales of the reclusive author’s fixation with post-pubescent women, most notoriously Joyce Maynard.

In fact, most readers belong to our culture’s “teen division” when we first encounter Salinger. For many of us, the tale of Holden Caulfield’s lost weekend, the saga of the Glass family, and the scenes of besotted Smith alums tearfully recalling glory days at Yale proms prove tiresome and vapid once we’re only a few years out of adolescence; however, some readers return to Salinger’s work again and again over the decades. In another category entirely are the hard-core fans who find secret meanings in the text and who, in some cases, have stalked the elusive, publicity-shy author—or, in the case of Mark David Chapman, ended up trailing (and then murdering) John Lennon. And yet reading the Salinger corpus with the obsessive, hermeneutical attention of a biblical scholar isn’t as farfetched as it might sound, despite the tragic results in Chapman’s case. For Salinger’s best, most poignant theme seems more clearly than ever to be rooted in the Old and New Testaments, especially the chapters concerning Adam and Eve’s shocked loss of innocence, also Cain and Abel’s.

Such losses can force us to see those around us in a different and unflattering light: Former friends suddenly seem gross hypocrites (if not “secret slobs,” one of the gem-like phrases Caulfield bestows on a popular schoolmate); authority figures loom even more two-faced and moronic. Innocence can never be restored completely, as Salinger’s oeuvre makes clear, but it can be renewed, if briefly, by contact with those who have not yet fallen into knowledge. Phoebe, Caulfield’s sister, is the most obvious example here, but perhaps more pertinent, in regard to the biographical data about Salinger that has accumulated in recent years, is the namesake of the beautiful short story “For Esmé, With Love and Squalor.” This tale of a happenstance friendship between a young English war orphan and an American soldier stands as one of the centerpiece works in NINE STORIES, if not the entire Salinger corpus.

In fact, the author’s critical supporters would do well to remind Mailer-esque skeptics that this story, along with SEYMOUR: AN INTRODUCTION has several salient points of connection with works as illustrious as Hemingway’s IN OUR TIME and Virginia Woolf’s MRS. DALLOWAY, both classic tales of war’s aftershocks. Hemingway’s traumatized protagonist, Nick Adams, focuses on the simple aspects of camping—watching ants, for instance—with such intensity that the prose nearly trembles on the page. Woolf’s Septimus Smith, rendered suicidal after his time in World War I’s trenches, is an even closer prototype for the narrator in “For Esmé”—who seems clearly a stand-in for Salinger himself in the period immediately following his World War II service, which was inarguably nightmarish: If the D-Day landing in Normandy on Utah Beach and the battles that followed weren’t a sufficiently horrifying ordeal, Salinger also took part in the liberation of one of the first concentration camps encountered by American GIs. When Salinger’s daughter Margaret, author of the recent and controversial memoir DREAM CATCHER (Washington Square Press, $27.95), asked her father about his wartime experience, she says he replied with chilling terseness: “You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely. No matter how long you live.”

After witnessing such inhuman atrocity, how does one come home and go through the motions of a “normal” daily life? Nick Adams, Septimus Smith, and the narrator of “For Esmé” can’t, or won’t; Salinger’s male protagonist, like the author himself, refuses the temptations of suicide to which the Woolf character succumbs, as does Salinger’s doppelgänger Seymour Glass in the story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish.” Nonetheless, in life the writer gradually made a 24/7 retreat into nature and transcendental studies and thoroughly away from mankind—if not womankind. Salinger shared custody of Margaret and her brother, and he had lovers both before and after the 18-year-old Joyce Maynard dropped out of Yale in the early ’70s to live in New Hampshire with the writer, who was then 53. Nearly all of these relationships, according to various sources, involved much younger women and began with exchanges of letters. This maybe shouldn’t be a surprise: The fictional Esmé, said to be “about thirteen,” is by far the most attractive female character in NINE STORIES.

But if Salinger is not only a recluse but a quasi-pedophile, how has he gained such popular and critical success? First, to make a fetish of adolescent innocence isn’t quite the same thing as eroticizing children, pace Calvin Klein ads and child beauty pageants. Second, though we may not want to admit it, Esmé and Joyce and Phoebe and the young Brooke Shields and JonBenét Ramsey represent different aspects of the very same thing: America’s love of youthful promise, fresh starts, eternal renewal. Salinger’s continued popularity is due in part to the way in which the author reflects that love—which, granted, can take unfortunate turns.

Third and most important, Salinger’s artistic gifts are considerable. His deceptively easygoing style melds his country’s innocence-worship with Buddhist concepts of dissolved ego, and he then communicates his message through dialogue as witty and snappy and pitch-perfect as Flannery O’Connor’s. Indeed, the Georgia writer has more in common with Salinger than might first appear—especially in terms of dogmatic spirituality—even though her stories reveal a pretty thorough detestation of children.

Writers are often far better people on the page than they are in real life. And sure, the remote, hypercritical, and perhaps even misanthropic Salinger hardly seems to have achieved the state of spiritual enlightenment prepared for by his decades-long study of Christian Science, Zen, homeopathy, and macrobiotics. But it’s possible to condemn the damage Salinger may have wreaked on his daughter and on Maynard and simultaneously to consider a previously sublingual aspect of his personality in light of these women’s memoirs. In other words, traumatic war experiences might easily result in an obsessive search for innocence; similarly, the desire for transcendence from the flesh makes a great deal more sense when understood in the context of having the stink of burned bodies in one’s nostrils.

If Salinger the man never reaches beyond self, memory, and desire to arrive at something like universal love, he tells us how to get there. When Seymour’s siblings begin to succeed him on a quiz show called “It’s a Wise Child,” as we’re told in FRANNY AND ZOOEY, he reminds them to shine their shoes and to be funny “for the Fat Lady.” Even after his suicide, these words limn a duty by which his brothers and sisters—and Salinger’s readers—may find a measure of grace. Thus for every Seymour who dies by his own hand, there’s a Salinger who is still alive—and apparently still writing—and urging us to remember the Fat Lady in all of her sweaty, varicose-veined, fly-swatting, and ultimately mysterious humanity.

(originally published in the NASHVILLE SCENE / Village Voice Media)

[Nicolas Batman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can understand why some people hate this story and why others love it, what I personally believe it boils down to is if you can in any way relate to it.

I wish I had read this book in highschool, because I was a lot like Holden, I felt alienated, nothing in the world made any sense and the facade, hypocrisies, etc I was beginning to find surrounding me. This made me a very angry, confused, and lonely kid.

Since then I've accepted these things, and have a different outlook on the world, but that's not important here.

The point is, the only hate I really heard about this book is for the main character not being likeable/ promotion of alienation.

Your thoughts on Holdon are what you make of it. I don't think it promotes anything, and I don't think the author had intended you to have a specific feeling for Holdon, I just think it's a raw and realistic display of a troubled teenage mind.

And I liked it.

[Zahra · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book in my opinion wasn't very interesting or intriguing but it was also very relatable and sent a great message. it had a long start and I didn't fully get the message of the book at first, the parts I interpreted as the message Salinger was trying to send was to protect children specifically his sister from the nightmares of falling into adulthood hense "the catcher in the rye" I think he's also afraid of it himself which explains the constant cursing and childish phrases. with that being said, there's also a lot of positive things to say about the book like how many kids truly understand and relate to a lot of the book like how messed up society and a lot of adults are, and not wanting to grow up because of the dread of being like them and having deal with it in your everyday life.
personally i give this book a 3 out of 5 and would probably recommend it to anyone aged 13-20.

[Elisabet Kanegis]

The book "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Sailinger was not one of my favorite books. The main character Holden Caulfeild tells his own story that takes place in New York in the 1940's to 1950's. He is always battleing with growing up and is usually complaining about something. He makes a lot of comments about how people are "phony" which kind of gets hard to read about over and over again. He is also always trying to get along with others and trying to have adult "relations" with girls. Although I did like the main theme; coming of age, I did think that it could have gone into better scenarios instead of small problems that all seemed to be too similar. Overall I felt like I kept waiting for a climax which never came and in the end I did not like it much.

[Tessa H · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly did not find it to be anything special. I like how it began a conversation about mental health and the difficulties of growing up and dealing with loss. But I did not like the writing style.

[Alec Savage]

was not a fan of this book and did not understand why it was a classic. nothing stood out but overall it was very boring to me without any action. the main charachter just lived his life as a normal person.

[Rose Petersburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holden Caulfield is like the OG teenage rebel. 'The Catcher in the Rye' is a journey inside his head during a few chaotic days in NYC. It's raw, real, and you'll either relate to Holden or want to give him a reality check.

[Terry Burgess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liked the writing style-disliked everything else

[Elio J · Rating 1 out of 5]

I fucking hate this book, there is no worse book in the whole fucking universe. Hate it, so much.

[Chelsea Perry · Rating 1 out of 5]

did not find it interesting, read it because it’s a classic but generally boring sorry soz

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m trying to think of a book I enjoyed less but it hasn’t come to me. So completely boring I don’t know why it’s a classic

[Judith the Book Gobbler · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had read these when I was in school I would have run away from home and never looked back!!

[berta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teine kord siis seda lugedes ja seekord oli päris hea. Need kirjeldused ei olegi tegelt kõik nii tüütud ja ma saan kinda aru miks Holden on selline nagu ta on.

[tuul · Rating 4 out of 5]

ma alguses mõtlesin et see peategelane on liiga hater ja miks ta vingub nii palju aga siis lõpu poole kui ta oma õe ees nutma hakkas siis tundus nagu suht sümpaatne tüüp tegelt.

[Jorge Skywalker · Rating 5 out of 5]

te entiendo golden

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Right before winter break, Holden Caulfield, a cynical, bitter 16-year-old, is kicked out of the elite Pencey Preparatory School. It isn't the first time Holden's flunked out of school, though. His depressing and lonely life at Pencey prompts Holden to leave school before vacation starts, so he goes home to New York City. Instead of facing his family in New York (his father, mother, and 10-year-old sister Phoebe), Holden finds himself stuck in strange situations including a fight with a pimp, a conversation with two nuns, and an awful date with a former flame. At last, he meets up with his "kid sister" Phoebe, who understands him like no one else. It is with her that Holden finally experiences true happiness. The book abruptly ends there, leaving the audience curious and somewhat unsatisfied.

The persona that J.D. Salinger has created for Holden is overly cynical and rather pessimistic. His use of repetition throughout the book also proves to be quite ineffective, and it makes reading seem like a chore. The book is filled with excessive yet unnecessary profanity, and Holden's strange obsession with children and innocence don't contribute to the development of a character who is only 16 years old. Although many people view this work as an iconic book or a classic, the book is actually quite boring and tedious.

[Yuneiry · Rating 4 out of 5]

this soty takes place in the early 1950's. the begining of the novel actually takes place at Pency prep shool. Is about Holden whic is a sixteen year old boy studebt who had feiled out of school two weeks before christmas. several days before he's expected home for christmas vacation. he leaves school planning to spend some time on his own in new York city, but things don't work out as he wants.
this is an excellent book because it has a lot of themes, for example is about innocence, familly- holden relatonship with his parents and siblings have deteriorated, loss- he lost his brother allie, betrayal- he always feel betrayed through the novel,adolecence, searching for a identity...i guess we can compare ourselfs with Holden. from tis book i leraned that is not good to do things only because he want to, we always have to think about the consecuences...and also that adolesence is a very hard time for us..at the time of being a parent it teaches that you have to understand your childrens and talk to then, ask then how they feel, o they can move on.....

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read any other Salinger works besides Franny & Zooey, but because of said book i really want to. Franny & Zooey presents simple everyday lives in a way that seems so bleak and so hopeless (which may sound absolutely heinous, but it really gives Franny's story in the beginning a lot of fascinating tension). At the end, though, it really does create a perfect world in its own way, which may make little sense to anyone but me, but I hope not. Ha. The thing with this is that you either hate it or love it. The simplicity of Franny's desperation and proving herself to whoever is willing to listen will either leave you irked or ravenous for more. I am the latter, which is why this gets five stars.

[Hunter Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

a. What dates did you read the novel? August something
b. What do you think the overall theme, or universal message, of the novel is? Why? I thought it was about life and how you should always keep trying what you set out to do.
c. Choose a significant quote from the novel and describe its significance. “Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
d. Would you recommend this novel to others? Why or why not? Yes. I dont read much but i thought it was a very good book

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have thought for years that Franny and Zooey should be required reading for every angst ridden teenager. I have also played this game with 9 stories where I think of them in any order and then read the last one I can't remember.

You know the moment in before the war where she gets so sad, or the kit story or the one where the girl breaks up with the coach and he becomes just another sad adult? Perfect writing - somewhat dated - but I like New York in the 40's, it sounds like a world I would have been very happy in - just like 2008.

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A completely unnecessary purchase, but an enjoyable indulgence nonetheless. I've lost count of how many times I've read Catcher, F&Z and Nine Stories, and they still hold up for me. The pleasant surprise here was Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters which is more rewarding each time I attempt it; and Seymour: An Introduction, which I've only tackled once previously, wasn't as difficult as I recall, though I would certainly never recommend it as an introduction to Salinger.

[Katrin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just re-read Franny and Zooey for the first time in 15 years. I thought it was a little obnoxious when I was 20, but I just couldn't take it at 35. I would love to hear from anyone who thinks this book is great, because I found it so irritating I could hardly finish it.

[Natelby HARrrrrrness]

Haven't read Raise High the Roof Beam yet, but I have read all the others. The Nine Stories are great. I love how weird every story gets while maintaining his incredibly distinct and incredibly New York kind of style.