Reading 1001 discussion

Anybody over sixteen without an ulcer's a goddam spy."

A few years ago I taught Catcher in the Rye and I hated it. Holden annoyed me from beginning to end, which I don't recall being the case when I read the book as a teen. I didn't go into this expecting to like it much, and I didn't. But I disliked it so much less than I expected.

I hated Franny. Hated everything she said, hated her problem, hated her religious bullshit. But Zooey, him I didn't mind so much. I still thought he talked a lot of bullshit, but it didn't annoy me quite as much as the Franny/Holden style.

The thing with the mother and Zooey having a 50 page conversation in the bathroom just kinda weirds me out. And wow, did people smoke a lot in every conceivable location.

Funniest part: ""That's the spirit! Make it chicken broth or nothing. That's putting the ole foot down. If she's determined to have a nervous breakdown, the least we can do is see that she doesn't have it in peace."

How many stars?

Just three.

And in retrospect, my kids are now always in the bathroom with me and that seems less odd.

Chinook wrote: "Just three.

And in retrospect, my kids are now always in the bathroom with me and that seems less odd."

I remember the days before children when using the bathroom was a private experience. Now I feel like my child has a radar detecting when I try to use the bathroom for anything (showering, etc) because she consistently shows up in there and asks for things 🤣

Both girls, the dog and sometimes the cat. It’s like Grand Central Station in our bathroom.

Chinook wrote: "Both girls, the dog and sometimes the cat. It’s like Grand Central Station in our bathroom."

Ha ha, yes! We have a cat too and he does the same thing

May 31, 2010 – Finished Reading
Rating: 3 stars
Review: Another one I did not write a review. So probably need to reread someday. I wasn't a fan of it but maybe I didn't read it at the right time.

Rating: 4 stars
I did like this book. It is divided into two parts: First one is named Franny, and was published first as novella. Second part, named Zooey was written later and is elaborating first part, putting the main character - Franny into context. I loved first part much better than second.
The book is not a plot driven one, but rather structured through dialogues between two persons. It points out or offers a different perspective in looking at things: relationship, friendship, religion, family. I think that it talks a lot about how form prevails over substance, how everybody is pretending to enjoy instead of enjoying. Like two persons, Franny and her boyfriend Lane are together because it looks ok, rather than they care about each other. They do not listen to each other or even care about other persons feelings.
Second part of the book introduces Franny's family and explains her strange behavior from the first part. It is focusing a lot on criticism of Christianity. After finishing this book I read that Salinger was strongly influenced by Buddhism, which explains his sometimes strange point of views.
Overall, I liked the background very much: this bathroom dialogue, rooms covered with sheets, cold winter train station...
And, yes, they DO smoke very much all the time.

Rating: 3.5 stars


Ha. I enjoyed reading the above comments. This wasn't what I expected, but I did enjoy it. It seemed to mostly be dialogue, which made for a quick read. The first part is about Franny and her boyfriend, college students in the 1950's. We meet Franny's family and brother Zooey in the second part of the book. Not much in the way of plot here, but some interesting philosophical/spiritual musings and insights.

I think I am either: 1. not a fan of Salinger, 2. too old to appreciate his characterization, or 3. both. In my opinion Holden Caulfield never really comes of age. He is bratty, stubborn and irritating. I was hoping that I would feel differently about Franny and Zooey, but unfortunately I disliked them also. They felt too much like revisiting the more well-known book about the more well-known character. Zooey is supposed to be an adult -- 25 years old -- but he still comes off as an insolent teen in the same way as Holden does. And Franny is 20 which is the same age as my youngest son. But thankfully my son is far more mature (and kind!) than she is.

I was extremely frustrated by the way Zooey spoke to his mother. He is an angry, spoiled and mean-spirited child in the body of a man. I would never have spoken to my mother this way, and my kids would not speak to me this way. What was even worse, though, was that she barely reacted to his rude, disrespectful and nasty words.

I want book characters to be flawed, but they should still be somewhat likable. Salinger seems to create only characters that I detest.

***

OK, that was slightly weird. Franny and Zooey are issued from what you could call a family of Mensans or, at least, of gifted children that were made spectacles of themselves via a radio program displaying their knowledgeable talents. We are given a window on the early adult lives through these two separate but linked novellas. While Franny appears to be succumbing from a sort of mystical experience, Zooey is his own obnoxious self while trying to manipulate Franny in and out of her spiritual torments, indirectly at the behest of their mother. Zooey's character seems to be borrowed from one of the many despicable and irritating characters inhabiting Saul Bellow's novels. And just for that, it made me dislike this "novel" a bit more.

Franny and Zooey
3/5 stars

First chapter is about Franny. It is one scene in a bar in which much drinking and smoking occur. Franny is not feeling well and faints how typical of male writers.

Second chapter titled Zooey. We learn about the Glass family, Franny and Zooey are siblings. There are 7 siblings in all. For some reason, Salinger did not want to get into the history of the whole family so he writes a footnote explaining about the 5 siblings he is not going to talk about. I was put off by the relationship of Zooey and his mother, who talks to their mother like that? The whole bathroom conversation went on too long for me and they were both annoying. Franny and Zooey have a close relationship, it was nice that it developed over the course of the book. I liked the ending of the book but I am not sure I understand all the intricacies of religion in this one.