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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Some of these stories are much much better than others, but as I am now rereading these at an older age, it’s clear Salinger was a total master of story writing. Some of these stories reveal a great, preternatural understanding of childhood, truly like an emotionally savantish 8 year old had transmitted her understandings into Salinger’s brain. Others reveal a great awareness of our world’s many infinite one-way boulevards. (And the less effective stories try and basically fail to cope with this.)
To me the strongest stories are “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “For Esmé - with Love and Squalor,” both of which are basically perfect stories. They are in my all-time great class alongside a couple James Joyce stories, a couple by Alice Munro, and maybe one or two of Kafka’s pieces. Maybe a couple others but that’s what’s coming to mind right now. (Edit: forgot Borges)
Also very strong are “Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut,” “The Laughing Man,” “Down at the Dinghy,” and “De Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period.” The closing line of the first story is a classic, and who can forget that “tout le monde est une nonne”? “The Laughing Man” is impressively grotesque and is maybe the clearest bridging point between Salinger’s earlier stories that are more childlike and pained and his later stories that are more desperate and seeking.
But I don’t mean to say that the remaining three (“Just Before the War with the Eskimos,” “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes,” and “Teddy”) are weak, because I did think they were all pretty good stories, although each for different reasons. The first story was kind of closer to a Catcher in the Rye-ish sort of realism: a brief injection into the lifestreams of some (wealthy) 1940s New Yorkers tinged with strange subterranean hopefulness. The latter two seemed rather more cynical and exasperated, even if “Teddy” tried to deny it / work around it. Teddy was himself an interesting character, if maybe a little goofy.
Love it, wish there was more, hope someday more get published. I am glad to have found later on that my younger self was able to spot such great writing, just because it’s always such a shame when you revisit old stuff you liked and find it totally over sentimental or boring or just plain shite for some reason or another. Salinger is great.
To me the strongest stories are “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “For Esmé - with Love and Squalor,” both of which are basically perfect stories. They are in my all-time great class alongside a couple James Joyce stories, a couple by Alice Munro, and maybe one or two of Kafka’s pieces. Maybe a couple others but that’s what’s coming to mind right now. (Edit: forgot Borges)
Also very strong are “Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut,” “The Laughing Man,” “Down at the Dinghy,” and “De Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period.” The closing line of the first story is a classic, and who can forget that “tout le monde est une nonne”? “The Laughing Man” is impressively grotesque and is maybe the clearest bridging point between Salinger’s earlier stories that are more childlike and pained and his later stories that are more desperate and seeking.
But I don’t mean to say that the remaining three (“Just Before the War with the Eskimos,” “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes,” and “Teddy”) are weak, because I did think they were all pretty good stories, although each for different reasons. The first story was kind of closer to a Catcher in the Rye-ish sort of realism: a brief injection into the lifestreams of some (wealthy) 1940s New Yorkers tinged with strange subterranean hopefulness. The latter two seemed rather more cynical and exasperated, even if “Teddy” tried to deny it / work around it. Teddy was himself an interesting character, if maybe a little goofy.
Love it, wish there was more, hope someday more get published. I am glad to have found later on that my younger self was able to spot such great writing, just because it’s always such a shame when you revisit old stuff you liked and find it totally over sentimental or boring or just plain shite for some reason or another. Salinger is great.
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had to read this for a college English class. I genuinely enjoyed the stories. Especially when we analyzed it afterwards.
challenging
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank god voor de uitgebreide analyses op het internet. Deze verhalen ga ik nog váák lezen in mijn leven (tenzij ik vroegtijdig sterf)
I didn't think much of short stories before this book. Now, I can't wait to study them in two years here at school.Changed my entire perception of literature.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I've reread Nine Stories many times, but it's been a few years since my last re-read. I feel bad saying that I've fallen a little bit out of love with it. I still really like A Perfect Day for Bananafish and For Esme, with Love and Squalor but many of the others have fallen by the wayside. I definitely think that this is a well-written collection of short stories, but all of them don't have the importance that I once felt they did. This collection is no The Catcher in the Rye (obviously it's a different format) but I guess I just hoped that since my affinity for The Catcher in the Rye has stayed strong, so would my affinity for Nine Stories.
All of that said, I'm sure I'll be keeping this one on my shelf and I'll be returning to it and re-reading it for years to come. Despite my current feelings with it, I'm sure that it'll always have a place in my heart.
All of that said, I'm sure I'll be keeping this one on my shelf and I'll be returning to it and re-reading it for years to come. Despite my current feelings with it, I'm sure that it'll always have a place in my heart.
well, i'd have to say this was an eclectic mix. the stories were very different and very imaginative - not fantastic or surreal, just situations and characters i never would have imagined.
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" was drawn-out and inconclusive in a way that didn't appeal to me, but I loved all eight of the other stories. Salinger writes people like people -- lousy, random, unpredictable -- and nothing like fictional constructs.