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A review by tristansreadingmania
Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
4.0
Not being too fond of Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye – and having, in fact, a vivid recollection of me chucking it after about a 100 pages into a far-flung, dusty corner out of sheer tedium in high school (reading assignments are hemlock for stubborn minds) - I wasn’t particularly looking forward to his short story collection. Would it just be an assortment of variations on Holden Caulfield? I feared the worst.
Boy was I happy to be proven wrong. Talk about rising to low expectations, huh? How I wish now that the scholastic "authorities" had assigned us this instead of that boorish novel. In that case, I wouldn't have had to look up an online summary to pass my bloody test. In fact, I might have even been stupid enough to found a hipsterish J.D. Salinger worship cult. A missed opportunity, I tell ya!
These subtle tales are replete with memorable, flawed, authentic (non-irritating!) characters one can invest in. Clear highlights are A Perfect Day for Bananafish and especially the poignant, immensely moving For Esmé – With Love and Squalor, but they are all fine examples of quality writing. Not a dud in the bunch.
Turning the last page, it is hard not to feel a pang of sadness, of irretrievable loss. One wishes Salinger had foregone the infamous reclusiveness that beset his last 45 years and had written more of these. What masterpieces the world has missed out on as a result can only be guessed at.
Boy was I happy to be proven wrong. Talk about rising to low expectations, huh? How I wish now that the scholastic "authorities" had assigned us this instead of that boorish novel. In that case, I wouldn't have had to look up an online summary to pass my bloody test. In fact, I might have even been stupid enough to found a hipsterish J.D. Salinger worship cult. A missed opportunity, I tell ya!
These subtle tales are replete with memorable, flawed, authentic (non-irritating!) characters one can invest in. Clear highlights are A Perfect Day for Bananafish and especially the poignant, immensely moving For Esmé – With Love and Squalor, but they are all fine examples of quality writing. Not a dud in the bunch.
Turning the last page, it is hard not to feel a pang of sadness, of irretrievable loss. One wishes Salinger had foregone the infamous reclusiveness that beset his last 45 years and had written more of these. What masterpieces the world has missed out on as a result can only be guessed at.