Rating: 
Summary: Extraordinary Short Fiction
Review: This book is essential if (a) you've ever read Salinger, and (b) if you love short fiction. These tales brought him to the top of my list of favorite short story writers. He is able to paint exquisite pictures of people with their words and mannerismns, often needing little else to move story's narrative. What I particularly enjoy is his occaisional touch of humorous irony that is sometimes reminiscant of John Collier (known more as a poet than short story writer, many of his stories turned up on ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and some even on TWILIGHT ZONE). Salinger, for the most part, provides much stronger endings than are popular with today's slice-of-life short fiction. They are often surprising and always thought-provoking. I may be old fashioned, but I believe this is how short stories should be written--and it's how I try to write mine.
Rating:
Summary: The best short story collection I ever read
Review: Perhaps one of the reasons I never cared for Catcher in the Rye was that I came to it after reading Salinger's Nine Stories, which in every way seems much superior. These stories work in a way that many collections of short stories by a single author don't, because of a unified tone and single vision that is at once both bleak and yet sympathetic to what is fundamental in the human condition.I first read this collection more than 30 years ago and have reread all the stories numerous times with great pleasure. It is a shame that Salinger retired so early, but even if he had left nothing but this one short collection of stories, he would have secured a place among the significant writers of the 20th century. Through a style that is disarmingly simple and direct, he manages to touch reader's feelings deeply. And while in his later Glass family novels he slips into a kind of 'cute' self parody, these stories are deftly crafted with no misstep to be seen. This is art that doesn't refuse to have a human heart.
Rating: 
Summary: Nine Stories, Four Stars
Review: This was a great book, J.D. Salinger has written my two favorite stories to read, and I'm not even a reader. The storys are: Catcher in the Rye, and Nine Stories. Nine Stories reminds me of his unique style which involves a lot of conversational writing and not very much narrating. I think that this is a great way of writing, because it is more in depth, and takes more ability to describe each character without much narration, and that's what I like about his work. He makes fiction stories that fit the lives of many people and the stories he writes aren't really too far-fetched. He is a very smart writer although he does curse every five or six words, but, that aside, his books are really intreaguing and I would encourage everyone who is, maybe, having a bad day, is sick and tired of watching tv, or even has some free time on their hands to pick up one of his books and read it, cover to cover. Though Catcher in the Rye is, in my opinion, a better book, I think that they are both good reads and are very much worth giving up watching tv for a day or to.
Rating:
Summary: Powerfu and moving, makes you glad to be the reader
Review: This book takes a very eccentric look into the lives of many different people. The surrealistic "The Laughing Man" looks at the toll human growth takes from your life. The bus driver, through telling the story, realizes he is no longer a child, and reluctently must realize this. "A Perfect Day ffor Bananafish" is one that must be read and read again to catch the answers to why. Characters' mannerisms clue the reader into these answers. Salinger, in these stories, really has captured the human heart and mankind in a natural and personal way. A real book!!
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary virtuosity
Review: Nine Stories is....well..nine stories. But these stories are hardly anything but mere stories. These short stories are so eminently delightful that you will NOT want the book to end. I tried to string it out by only reading one per day. Easier said than done. "I like to chew candles," she said finally.
"Who doesn't?" said the young man, getting his feet wet. Seemingly simple and mundane goings-on such as the above from A Perfect Day for a Bananafish are amazingly transformed by Salinger in what is nothing short of ineffable alchemy. I enjoyed Nine Stories just as, if not more than, Franny & Zooey and Catcher. I found the rarely mentioned Just Before the War With the Eskimos especially scintillating -- perhaps people are overlooking the profundity of this one in the midst of such other prodigious tales. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks Pamela!
Review: I have yet to read this book by Salinger, but the terrific analysis and insight provided by Pamela Blake is greatly appreciated and sure to be helpful in guiding me through Salinger's literary depths. I love it when someone musters up the guts to write a stinging review of another's opinion. What better way to learn? Truly original and unique! Man, you really got her! Wow! She'll never want to write again. Thanks for your ingenutiy and acidic wit. P.S. Pamela, you should read The Catcher in the Rye. You sound just like the narrator, Holden. Do you have grey hair yet?
Rating:
Summary: We're all entitled to our opinion.
Review: I actually feel that all of Salinger's work in thematically repetitious, but not lacking in talent. Is my opinion worth more because I spelled it right? There's this other word that I always have trouble with: pretentious. Is that spelled right? Used correctly in that sentence? All of that aside, I very much enjoy reading Salinger's work.
Rating:
Summary: 9 from a master
Review: This is a very, very good collection of stories. Salinger is a master of writing about people and their minds, and illuminating many small but important nuances of human interaction. Some of the characters in these stories (especially Esme in "For Esme, with Love and Squalor" and the title character in "Teddy") are among the most memorable characters in any short stories I've ever read. Verdict: It's been hard for me to resist giving anything away, but I did it. It just needs to be known that these are excellent, passionate stories--wholeheartedly recommended to anyone with or without a whole heart.
Rating:
Summary: Why do people with no literary insight write reviews?
Review: Nine Stories is deservedly a classic. What is stunning to me is that someone who clearly doesn't understand fiction or its power would bother to read the book and then attack it. I refer, of course, to the remarkable review by "Tara Zelle from Cedar Rapids." This is a review from a reader who clearly hasn't even the slightest grasp of the language. Ignore Tara's inability to spell or punctuate; we can figure out that "repetative in its theme's" is Tara's way of trying to say "repetitive in its themes," or maybe even "thematically repetitious." I believe that someone who is going to criticize literature should make sure her readers don't have to puzzle their way through her critique. I also believe that those who set themselves up as judges of writing should know the difference between "affect" and "effect," and should not baffle us with sentences such as "Each of the stories has a main theme in commom which basically sums up to be around negativity..." Her most interesting complaint, however, is that "[t]here is no sense of digression, only confussion." Leaving aside the confusing way she has spelled "confusion," what on earth does Tara think the word "digression" means, and why would she want a sense of it in a story? Tara closes by telling us that she loves to write poems. I'm not sure what 'commom main themes her poems sum up to be around,' but one can only hope that she will someday publish a volume of them, so she can be subjected to the kind of ignorant treatment she has given Salinger here.
Rating:
Summary: Salinger is one of the great writers of this century
Review: I was given one of Salinger's short stories as an assignment for my creative writing class. After reading it I was hooked. Salinger is a genius with words. He can make a story about a chicken sandwich sound interesting. His character descriptions are superb and his dialogue is crisp. Anyone wishing to write better should copy his work word for word just to get a feel for the language. While some of his stories seem to defy a recognizable plot, his charm with words and humor more than make up for it. Nine stories should be read immediately after "Catcher in the Rye," one of the most hilarious pieces of literature in the last 75 years.
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