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Summary: This may not glitter, but it is gold
Review: Never should such beauty be underestimated by any means.
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Summary: Looks deeply at our society
Review: In Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger seems bent on exposing the poignant complexities of the people around us. The characters of these timeless narratives are typical American men and women, nestled away in suburbs; unwinding on summer retreats and buried in apartment complexes; folks who, on the surface, seem fortunate and content. Mr. Salinger peels past their public appearances, throwing them conundrums bound to expose their hidden insecurities, shortcomings and naivety. A visit from a college roommate causes an upheaval of reflection and regret in a suburban housewife in "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut;" romantic turmoil unearths a mean streak in the chief of a boy scout-type organization in "the Laughing Man" and Seymour Glass, the burnt-out intellectual whose presence would loom over Salinger's latter work, falls over the edge in the intense, unpredictable, unforgettable classic, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Fifty years after they were conceived these characters could still be your neighbors or schoolmates. The vivid portraits of Nine Stories are practical assessments for the modern American dream.
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Summary: Some of the best American short stories
Review: J.D. Salinger's short fiction, as these "Nine Stories" show, is squarely in the New Yorker style, providing snapshots of the comfortable postwar lives of smart urban people, but there is a mark of strange distinction here. These stories merge the realistic and the bizarre so effortlessly and naturally, they make human experience seem more interesting and special than we usually perceive it to be. These are stories to be read, and reread, and reread for the fun of plunging into their mysterious depths and coming up with whatever pearls may have appeared since the last time they were read.Each story is unique, complex, and perplexing. It would be difficult for me to pick a favorite, but the one that intrigues me the most is "Just Before the War with the Eskimos." It has an ending that is so inscrutable, describing it would be futile -- but I'll just say it involves the relationship between a discarded chicken sandwich and a dead Easter chick. It's like holding a locked box in your hands, the key nowhere to be found, wondering what could possibly be inside.
The characters have secrets that are barely, if at all, revealed to the reader, who is forced to look for clues in the text. We read about a man with a lost soul and an oblivious wife ("A Perfect Day for Bananafish"), two college pals who drunkenly reminisce about old times ("Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut"), and a ten-year-old genius who has little use for emotions ("Teddy"). There is a story within a story, where the "inner" story is affected by the events of the "outer" story ("The Laughing Man"), a story about a man's motivation to write a story ("For Esme -- With Love and Squalor"), and a telephone conversation between two men about a woman ("Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes"). The stories can be appreciated for their surface beauty as well. The interaction between the characters creates palpable tension, the dialogue is sharp and vivid, there is hardly a wasted word; and so, if indeed it is impossible to fathom the full mysterious depths of each story, then, as the protagonist of "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" says, I am willing to stay in the dark.
Rating: 
Summary: One Story and Parts of Eight Others
Review: After reading and loving A Catcher in the Rye, I was expecting this to be brilliant. What it wound up being was similar to a trip to the dentist.
The first story, "A Perfect Day For Bananafish" was very entertaining, and got my hopes up. I expected that the rest of the stories would have some sort of entertainment value, some sort of plot twist, but it was all downhill after that. The one star I gave it was for that first story.
The most striking thing about these stories is that while they have vivid descriptions and colorful character portraits, the stories have no plot whatsoever, and the characters dont *do* anything. I found that I was asking myself "what was the point?" after reading each of the latter eight stories. If you havent read Salinger before, do yourself a favor and read A Catcher in the Rye before you read this, because otherwise it will turn you off to Salinger entirely.
Rating: 
Summary: Simple, spare storytelling
Review: These nine stories present a variety of characters living a common theme--isolation, a lack of connection to others, maybe even a lack of connection within themselves. From a WWII soldier, a veteran on a vacation, a child prodigy, two young suburban matrons, a law student taking care of a bunch of young boys after school--what is going on in these characters' heads is far more real to them than the world around them. Salinger offers a fairly bleak view of life, but a vivid one. Perhaps my favorite is "For Esme--with love and squalor." We meet an American soldier based in England, about to go off on a secret mission, which turns out to be D-day. He is part of a company who do not speak with each other--we can clearly see the long grey days of waiting as each man pens letters home but fails to reach out to the guy sitting next to him. A young girl in a tea shop breaks through this isolation briefly but then the soldier leaves; the young girl returns in a surprising way several weeks later and again breaks through a much more profound barrier. Other stories begin in a commonplace sort of way until Salinger shocks us with a turn of plot or ending that is totally unexpected-- "Banana Fish" and "Teddy". I give this collection a 4 for one or two stories I found less exceptional-- "Uncle Wiggly" was just depressing without more; and "War with the Eskimos" was of the Holden Caulfield genre but much less interesting. All in all, however, a great collection.
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Summary: Salinger is not just about teenage angst....
Review: Anyone, specifically teenagers, who read "Catcher in the Rye" and were looking for more stories of Holden and teenage angst will be tremendously disappointed with this collection...because there really isn't a drop of it in here. What this collection of Nine stories DOES contain is everything else. Each story probes to the depths, in so few words,on some highly worthy subject, many times devastating, and somehow you always end of laughing inbetween your tears, as well as pondering each story long after the front cover has been shut. To me, reading Salinger is kind of like a Manic Depressive Wild Ride...full of profanity, then tenderness, horrifying discoveries and beautiful offerings.
Buddy Glass once said, (in probably my misquoted words) "I can't keep jumping between high delight...and grief forever...." but please take an hour or two to do so and pick up this book....with an open mind and heart.
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Summary: family connection
Review: what's great about this book of short stories is the family connection with his other novellas. it's great how he can puzzle in the glass family and everyone else. also, the last story of "teddy" gives one a glimpse of a genius at work. most people write comments and that gives the story away, of course i won't. i feel that it's my duty to recommend. it's an easy read and an easy stimulus of the brain. read it my friend!
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Summary: Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes
Review: The story "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" is in this collection of stories. The focus in on a couple of telephone conversations between a man and his friend from work. The man has taken his friend's wife home with him from a party and his friend, who wasn't at the party, calls him worried about her asking if he had seen her. This is almost a morality tale, showing someone having to face the suffering caused by their actions. The ending hits hard and has a twist. This is a short and highly polished story by Salinger.
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Summary: i'm not an expert on salinger
Review: But i soon will be. I have read "the catcher in the rye" and "nine stories" so far. Mr. Salinger is like the conductor of an orchestra, in his case, combining words to create a symphony. You can't just browse through a salinger story, lest you miss the most intimate portion. Sometimes the most simple action, person or thing can take the salinger experience to new heights. I would recommend reading "nine stories" after "catcher" so that you get the feel of mr. salinger's writing style and focus.
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Summary: Not the Salinger voice.
Review: Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for short stories when I read this, but I just didn't get a sense for the Salinger voice that I loved in Franny and Zooey, or Catcher in the Rye. Some of the stories are impactful. I read them because I love Salinger's other work. I would advise, however, against this approach, as I was not blown away by them as I had hoped to be.
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