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safetypinned 's review for:
Nine Stories
by J.D. Salinger
I read because I want to touch god. I touched god in this book, especially with the last story, teddy. wow. what an ender.
was on the phone w my boyfriend trying to explain one of these stories, hitting the events in order but not the “point,” which made me consider what I thought a short story should do — I’ve read really bad and really good ones recently and I also sometimes write them myself but I have not gotten the groove right, because I am too invested in making sure the reader understands me and my reason for writing. but short stories, I think, should make you reach some unspeakable knowledge or emotion beyond a conclusion that is obvious or straightforward. this is beyond the author too—to write a good short story I believe you must *reach* for something. they should do this even more than books, because books have several purposes—character studies, plot, and whatnot. but short stories and poetry need to get down to the essentials of writing, the very barest reason to do it. to reach god.
by god I mean “everything” or the “truth” or these unspeakable knowledges, not the christian capital-G God. I kept this book in the back of my jean pocket, it was small enough to fit. so much knowledge and emotion in such a small container. last I read this was my senior year of high school and I think I stole it from my favorite teacher’s classroom by accident. but maybe that accident was for a reason, because I forgot the plot and purpose of all these stories, and I mostly reread them while in the ICU waiting room, waiting on my grandpa, who is close to death or could pull through, we don’t know. everything is uncertain. I think there was some comfort in reading stories published during his time of coming of age. I was on edge and reflective and therefore close to god anyway. in general, I think we are closer to god when we are born and when we are around death. I have experienced so much reframing in the past few years, smack after smack. like teddy says, I want to vomit up logic, stop my apple-eating, and many things have forced me to do this, temporarily. but I want to remember the things I knew in childhood, return to my intuition. I was a strange child with weird predictions and philosophies and I dreamed the future and then lived it again and I lost that. I lost it bc people told me that wasn’t real. now I feel it only in flashes, only in nature, by the threshold to life, or when I listen to certain music or read certain stories or most powerfully, when I write.
was on the phone w my boyfriend trying to explain one of these stories, hitting the events in order but not the “point,” which made me consider what I thought a short story should do — I’ve read really bad and really good ones recently and I also sometimes write them myself but I have not gotten the groove right, because I am too invested in making sure the reader understands me and my reason for writing. but short stories, I think, should make you reach some unspeakable knowledge or emotion beyond a conclusion that is obvious or straightforward. this is beyond the author too—to write a good short story I believe you must *reach* for something. they should do this even more than books, because books have several purposes—character studies, plot, and whatnot. but short stories and poetry need to get down to the essentials of writing, the very barest reason to do it. to reach god.
by god I mean “everything” or the “truth” or these unspeakable knowledges, not the christian capital-G God. I kept this book in the back of my jean pocket, it was small enough to fit. so much knowledge and emotion in such a small container. last I read this was my senior year of high school and I think I stole it from my favorite teacher’s classroom by accident. but maybe that accident was for a reason, because I forgot the plot and purpose of all these stories, and I mostly reread them while in the ICU waiting room, waiting on my grandpa, who is close to death or could pull through, we don’t know. everything is uncertain. I think there was some comfort in reading stories published during his time of coming of age. I was on edge and reflective and therefore close to god anyway. in general, I think we are closer to god when we are born and when we are around death. I have experienced so much reframing in the past few years, smack after smack. like teddy says, I want to vomit up logic, stop my apple-eating, and many things have forced me to do this, temporarily. but I want to remember the things I knew in childhood, return to my intuition. I was a strange child with weird predictions and philosophies and I dreamed the future and then lived it again and I lost that. I lost it bc people told me that wasn’t real. now I feel it only in flashes, only in nature, by the threshold to life, or when I listen to certain music or read certain stories or most powerfully, when I write.