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blackjessamine's review against another edition
3.0
J.D. Salinger ha la capacità di farti sentire minuscolo senza mai soverchiarti.
È immenso, e mi sembra di non aver colto così tante cose, in questo breve romanzo, che quasi mi sento male.
Eppure, sono certa di aver fatto un viaggio bellissimo.
Se sei un poeta, fai qualcosa di bello. Cioè, la gente si aspetta che tu lasci qualcosa di bello quando finisci la pagina e così via. La gente di cui parli tu non lascia niente, non una cosa sola che sia bella. Quelli che magari sono solo un tantino migliori non fanno altro che entrarti in testa e lasciartici dentro qualcosa. Ma solo perché lo fanno, solo perché sanno lasciare qualcosa, non è detto che essa debba essere una poesia, per l'amor del cielo. Può darsi che sia soltanto una specie di gocciolio sintattico terribilmente affascinante.
Lo so che questo non è neanche lontanamente un degno commento a questo romanzo, ma non credo di essere capace di andare oltre.
È dai tempi dei pescibanana che mi sembra di conoscere fin troppo bene la famiglia Glass.
È immenso, e mi sembra di non aver colto così tante cose, in questo breve romanzo, che quasi mi sento male.
Eppure, sono certa di aver fatto un viaggio bellissimo.
Se sei un poeta, fai qualcosa di bello. Cioè, la gente si aspetta che tu lasci qualcosa di bello quando finisci la pagina e così via. La gente di cui parli tu non lascia niente, non una cosa sola che sia bella. Quelli che magari sono solo un tantino migliori non fanno altro che entrarti in testa e lasciartici dentro qualcosa. Ma solo perché lo fanno, solo perché sanno lasciare qualcosa, non è detto che essa debba essere una poesia, per l'amor del cielo. Può darsi che sia soltanto una specie di gocciolio sintattico terribilmente affascinante.
Lo so che questo non è neanche lontanamente un degno commento a questo romanzo, ma non credo di essere capace di andare oltre.
È dai tempi dei pescibanana che mi sembra di conoscere fin troppo bene la famiglia Glass.
dyno8426's review against another edition
5.0
"I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody."
The depth of existential angst that Franny voices in the first part of this book is better understood when read contextually. Franny, being a college student, is at an age and a place where life choices and career open up as a sea of possibilities for anyone. Instead the embodiment of Salinger's voice and critique over the hypocrisy existing in the things that is universally cultivated and inherited through conformity, closes upon the horizons of Franny. Her consciousness about the superficiality that she sees in everything and everybody's actions around her suffocate her with a dawning of the meaninglessness of everybody's life. She is fed up off everybody's egotistical existence and ignorance to such an existence repels her. Her self-criticality makes her shun anything which could potentially feed her own ego and that's why, she wants to be a 'nobody'. This makes her restless for respite from such anguish. She turns to religion and the possible existence of an underlying meaning which could probably be found in the humblest of actions like repeatedly saying a prayer again and again. Even if she does not believe in it, her desperation for a release of anguish, to let down the burden to find something the ignorance of which makes it even more necessary. The mirage of the importance of our universally similar educational systems and professional institutions vanishes into thin air when the author shows that what we end up giving our graduates is usually likeable knowledge, not "respectable wisdom" in any sense.
Zoey is her older brother who finds phoniness despicable to a degree much visible and vocal than Franny, and thus, understands the turmoil of seeing through other people's sense of importance and facades of personal meaningfulness. His part of the story acts as a dichotomy to the brutally critical part of Franny. That does not mean that he is any docile or timid in his perception of the world. His perspective constitutes room for acceptance - not hypocrisy or superficiality, but the existence of it. And not doing the mistake of hating other people and looking down on those without this consciousness or willing ignorance. Instead standing against what their choices represent, i.e. being okay with the pretence of meaningfulness in the pursuit of an ego-nourishing or treasure-hunting way of life. He is critical of Franny's notion of praying without believing in what the being prayed to stands for. He undermines all those religious notions which give the illusion of thinking a man's life more worthy or above the lives of birds flying above you. Instead, using Christ as a symbol of unconditional acceptance of all things inherently true - he inspires the confidence to do anything for the sake for it and for that alone. It also includes accepting the existence of our tiny, finite, wisp-like fluttering ego since there's no individuality without it, and others around us, who are equally lost and tumbling to make a sense out of their place in the world. The author thinks that what all we can do to keep this purity of truth in our choices is to stop projecting and shaping the world according to our egotistical comfort. This part touches theology through even more Hindu, Buddhist and Christian examples in the text.
Like The Catcher in the Rye, I loved reading it and found it influential in a humbling manner. Compared to Holden Caulfield, Franny and Zoey's existential understanding and discussion feels more mature and relatable as an adult. Salinger's prose looks very casual and representative of his time and American culture, but is endearingly intimate-feeling and genuine. His characters work on a plotless story but extend their impressions in ways too real to be fictional.
The depth of existential angst that Franny voices in the first part of this book is better understood when read contextually. Franny, being a college student, is at an age and a place where life choices and career open up as a sea of possibilities for anyone. Instead the embodiment of Salinger's voice and critique over the hypocrisy existing in the things that is universally cultivated and inherited through conformity, closes upon the horizons of Franny. Her consciousness about the superficiality that she sees in everything and everybody's actions around her suffocate her with a dawning of the meaninglessness of everybody's life. She is fed up off everybody's egotistical existence and ignorance to such an existence repels her. Her self-criticality makes her shun anything which could potentially feed her own ego and that's why, she wants to be a 'nobody'. This makes her restless for respite from such anguish. She turns to religion and the possible existence of an underlying meaning which could probably be found in the humblest of actions like repeatedly saying a prayer again and again. Even if she does not believe in it, her desperation for a release of anguish, to let down the burden to find something the ignorance of which makes it even more necessary. The mirage of the importance of our universally similar educational systems and professional institutions vanishes into thin air when the author shows that what we end up giving our graduates is usually likeable knowledge, not "respectable wisdom" in any sense.
Zoey is her older brother who finds phoniness despicable to a degree much visible and vocal than Franny, and thus, understands the turmoil of seeing through other people's sense of importance and facades of personal meaningfulness. His part of the story acts as a dichotomy to the brutally critical part of Franny. That does not mean that he is any docile or timid in his perception of the world. His perspective constitutes room for acceptance - not hypocrisy or superficiality, but the existence of it. And not doing the mistake of hating other people and looking down on those without this consciousness or willing ignorance. Instead standing against what their choices represent, i.e. being okay with the pretence of meaningfulness in the pursuit of an ego-nourishing or treasure-hunting way of life. He is critical of Franny's notion of praying without believing in what the being prayed to stands for. He undermines all those religious notions which give the illusion of thinking a man's life more worthy or above the lives of birds flying above you. Instead, using Christ as a symbol of unconditional acceptance of all things inherently true - he inspires the confidence to do anything for the sake for it and for that alone. It also includes accepting the existence of our tiny, finite, wisp-like fluttering ego since there's no individuality without it, and others around us, who are equally lost and tumbling to make a sense out of their place in the world. The author thinks that what all we can do to keep this purity of truth in our choices is to stop projecting and shaping the world according to our egotistical comfort. This part touches theology through even more Hindu, Buddhist and Christian examples in the text.
Like The Catcher in the Rye, I loved reading it and found it influential in a humbling manner. Compared to Holden Caulfield, Franny and Zoey's existential understanding and discussion feels more mature and relatable as an adult. Salinger's prose looks very casual and representative of his time and American culture, but is endearingly intimate-feeling and genuine. His characters work on a plotless story but extend their impressions in ways too real to be fictional.
jmh1781's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lucila's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
mattatat37's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mattttrttt's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
terezasuchan's review against another edition
funny
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
ilupoli's review against another edition
3.0
Allllmost a 4?
A re-read, but it's been over a decade so I felt good about adding it here.
Salinger is a beautiful writer and this book really shines for me - though I could imagine that this is a personal preference. Both Franny and Zooey are quite annoying and pretentious, but I kind of love them for it.
It made me think about my siblings (and all siblings, really) and how we are all just trying to help each other in a blind-leading-the-blind way.
In the end I think it's mostly sad. They are just trying to get through life while dealing with lots of trauma and a super weird childhood.
Really torn between a 3.5 and 4 here
A re-read, but it's been over a decade so I felt good about adding it here.
Salinger is a beautiful writer and this book really shines for me - though I could imagine that this is a personal preference. Both Franny and Zooey are quite annoying and pretentious, but I kind of love them for it.
It made me think about my siblings (and all siblings, really) and how we are all just trying to help each other in a blind-leading-the-blind way.
In the end I think it's mostly sad. They are just trying to get through life while dealing with lots of trauma and a super weird childhood.
Really torn between a 3.5 and 4 here
whitneysederberg's review against another edition
5.0
excellent and strange. jd salinger writes such brilliant characters and dialogue, it’s such a joy to read.
shimmery's review against another edition
5.0
A lot of ground covered in these two short stories. Salinger’s writing is laugh out loud funny even while he explores serious topics. I liked the thoughts on the ego and conceit. The family dynamics are very well done and the dialogue through which they are conveyed has the natural ease only managed by the most talented writers.