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emaedee04121626 's review for:
Franny and Zooey
by J.D. Salinger
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really really enjoyed reading this book. I think I would have gained more from it had I read it a few years back, possibly when I was around sixteen or so years old.
I love films in which nothing much happens in terms of plot, yet a story is still told but embedded within the mundane. It seems like that love extends to books too because nothing much happened in this book in terms of plot, it’s heavily centred around dialogue but I enjoyed reading it.
I picked this up after having just finished ‘Siddhartha’ by Hesse and I can see the parallels. Both stories contain characters - Siddhartha and Franny - who explore enlightenment, or at least some form of it, firstly through rigid discipline but then come to the realisation that peace and understanding come from living fully, with love and acceptance for the imperfect world around them. You cannot achieve this through intellectualisation.
I can understand why some people might dislike Zooey, but I really enjoyed reading his part, and the advice he offered Franny. And his interaction with his mum in the bathroom.
She reminds me of my own mum, some of the mannerisms. The chicken soup (‘consecrated chicken soup’), the hovering, the talking, the love, worry.
The part about Mrs Glass’ eyes, how they alone could once break the news about her sons- I loved that, the description, writing. So beautiful.
I wanna hear more from the Glass family, they’re all such lovable characters- at least to me. So interesting, and funny. The writing had me hooked from the get go, I love the descriptions and the wording.
////
“I don’t know what good it is to know so much and be smart as whips and all if it doesn’t make you happy.”
I think I think too much, to the point where I’ll be happy, content even but as soon as I have that realisation, I’ll start to think about why I’m feeling that way and then the inevitable feeling of dOoM will fill my insides. I live in my head too much. This quote reminds me of that, not that I know too much or that I’m smart, just that I think too much, I can’t just read something or see something or feel something or experience something and let it go. I have to understand everything about it, but what is the point in doing all of that if the end result - more often than not - is that it disrupts my feelings of happiness? idk.
//
“God damn it,” he said, “there are nice things in the world—and I mean nice things. We’re all such morons to get so sidetracked.”
yes.
I love films in which nothing much happens in terms of plot, yet a story is still told but embedded within the mundane. It seems like that love extends to books too because nothing much happened in this book in terms of plot, it’s heavily centred around dialogue but I enjoyed reading it.
I picked this up after having just finished ‘Siddhartha’ by Hesse and I can see the parallels. Both stories contain characters - Siddhartha and Franny - who explore enlightenment, or at least some form of it, firstly through rigid discipline but then come to the realisation that peace and understanding come from living fully, with love and acceptance for the imperfect world around them. You cannot achieve this through intellectualisation.
I can understand why some people might dislike Zooey, but I really enjoyed reading his part, and the advice he offered Franny. And his interaction with his mum in the bathroom.
She reminds me of my own mum, some of the mannerisms. The chicken soup (‘consecrated chicken soup’), the hovering, the talking, the love, worry.
The part about Mrs Glass’ eyes, how they alone could once break the news about her sons- I loved that, the description, writing. So beautiful.
I wanna hear more from the Glass family, they’re all such lovable characters- at least to me. So interesting, and funny. The writing had me hooked from the get go, I love the descriptions and the wording.
////
“I don’t know what good it is to know so much and be smart as whips and all if it doesn’t make you happy.”
I think I think too much, to the point where I’ll be happy, content even but as soon as I have that realisation, I’ll start to think about why I’m feeling that way and then the inevitable feeling of dOoM will fill my insides. I live in my head too much. This quote reminds me of that, not that I know too much or that I’m smart, just that I think too much, I can’t just read something or see something or feel something or experience something and let it go. I have to understand everything about it, but what is the point in doing all of that if the end result - more often than not - is that it disrupts my feelings of happiness? idk.
//
“God damn it,” he said, “there are nice things in the world—and I mean nice things. We’re all such morons to get so sidetracked.”
yes.