C. Adam Volle’s Reviews > Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger > Status Update

Quite like "Down at the Dinghy," a story that builds up a somber mystery and then releases all the tension at the end with a hilarious twist.

OK, “The Laughing Man” is great fun, and a welcome gear change at this point in the collection from tales of how WWII traumatized people.

“Just Before the War with the Eskimos” is the first of these stories to send me to the Internet to find out what I was supposed to take from the piece. I got that Franklin is damaged but not why, really; either the piece is too subtle or I’m just too far removed from the 1940s to have caught it (or hey, I guess I could just be too thick). Consequently this is the least effective story for me so far.

It seems like all of the stories in this collection are going to be of the sort that are impossible to sell via plot description. Take “Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut”: It’s one of those tales in which a set of ordinary circumstances conspire to allow someone a moment of clarity—in this case a cruel, day-drinking housewife. But it works because Salinger is good at dialogue and rhythm. Another solid entry.

So that’s the famous story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish.” It’s good.