Nine Stories

Rating:
Summary: a facile teenage worldview
Review: Frankly, I see no real difference between "Teddy" and a Jack Chick tract except a different religious worldview. The rest of the stories are not that bad, but not very good either. A "kick-em-in-the-groin" ending does not make a story some kind of zen koan, and growing up, as Salinger might realize if he got around to it one of these days, is not the destruction of all that is good and holy in the human spirit. I can see, no question, why people fall in love with this stuff, and there's nothing wrong with his writing as writing, but at heart there is no struggle, no nuance, no complexity. It's a facile, teenage view of the world and I for one think it's not worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: Nine intriguing stories by the incomparable JD Salinger
Review: Having read Salinger's monumental "Catcher" as well as "Franny & Zooey," I decided to give his "Nine Stories" a try. I was alternately charmed, puzzled, amused, and occasionally (no blushes here) enlightened. Many people cite "To Esme, with Love and Squalor" as the best of the nine, and I have to agree with them. An acquaintance with a penchant for sappy summaries told me that "Esme" was movingly anti-war and a paean to childhood innocence. Expecting a maudlin romp through such blatantly tearful themes, I was unprepared for the understated, dryly articulated account of an American soldier who chats with a thirteen-year-old Brit girl in the midst of WWII. "Esme" reminds me of those tiny boats constructed inside bottles - you finish the story marveling that Salinger could create such a masterful work in so little space.
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" and "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" are the Park Avenue socialites of the nine. Even if you don't like chic, urbane fare, these two are very rewarding, particularly "Uncle Wiggily."
"The Laughing Man" is quite possibly one of the strangest stories in existence. Suffice to say it's your typical account of star-crossed lovers, American youngsters coming of age, a hideously deformed Chinese bandit of international fame, and a miscellany of wild animals. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
"De Daumier Smith's Blue Period" and "Just Before the War with the Eskimos" may be enigmatic head-scratchers, but the former's eccentric plot and the latter's deceptive simplicity make for good reading.
"Teddy" is Salinger's most indepth examination of that beloved personality, the precocious pre-adolescent religious mystic. Be forewarned, some may find this spoonfull of pantheism and precocity a little sour.
Finally, "Down at the Dinghy" and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" allow fans of "Franny and Zooey" to become reacquainted with members of the incomparable Glass family (incidentally, "Uncle Wiggily" also has a link to the Glasses that only true Salinger aficionados will spot). The elusive poet Seymour is the star of "Banafish"; "Dinghy" stars ordinary, homespun folk.
I believe several of these stories appeared in The New Yorker in the fifties. If a restless personality or extenuating circumstances compel you to read only one of the nine, my emphatic recommendation is "Esme." This book proves that Salinger is a master of the short story as well as the novel.