Rating: 
Summary: It's life
Review: Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters is one of Salinger's best works, I don't care what anyone says. The segment from Seymour's diary where he talks about scars on his hands from touching people...it's so beautiful. And true. In my mind it's much better than the more well-known Franny and Zooey, which seemed like a 25-page story struggling to make its way out of a 200-page hemorrhage of depression. Not that I didn't enjoy F&Z too. Do not even try to compare these stories to Catcher in the Rye, though: Catcher is an entirely different sort of book, and in my mind comparable only to A Separate Peace, The Great Gatsby, and Quentin's section of The Sound and the Fury.
Rating:
Summary: Totally Underrated
Review: Carpenters and Seymour are the two most underread and underrated works written by Salinger. In Seymour, Salinger exhibits all the honesty and vulnerability and pure "non-phonyness" that the irreplaceable Holden Caulfield sought in the world around him. Catcher in the Rye is trendy. Seymour: An Introduction is great.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not Catcher in the Rye
Review: This was the second book that i have read by Salinger, and i did enjoy it. However it was much different then Catcher in the Rye. I enjoyed the first story very much, but "Seymor" dragged on a bit although it was unique. I came into this book with very high expectations, and i wasnt really let down, but it is a far cry from Catcher.
Rating: 
Summary: Seymour: An Introduction? Yes. Yes.
Review: Self indulgent? Yes. Fabulous? Yes. Nobody who is railing against this installment of the Glass series can possible be a writer themselves. Look at the themes, metaphysical and otherwise, and then look at the delivery. Beautiful. And wordy. But beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: fact or fiction?
Review: Yes, of course Salinger really did it in this one. Now, does anyone out there know if the family that Salinger writes about is really his own?
Rating:
Summary: Wittiest Salinger plot ever
Review: In "Raise High the Roof Beam" everybody gets what he wants. Eccentric Seymour Glass marries dull, conventional Muriel, and our eternal Glass narrator Buddy is the only family member able to attend the wedding. A great big ol' white wedding is the last place you would ever expect to find Seymour at the center (or anyway, right of center) of, and in fact, he leaves the bride at the altar. At this point Buddy decides not to let anyone know who he is! In the end, Muriel has a big ol' white pity party AND a surprise elopement!! What wit!!And, of course, it's probably better to read "Seymour: An Introduction" after you've been properly introduced to him in the other Glass stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Very boring book and I would not recommend it.
Review: I found it to be very boring because of the character Seymour. There was nothing about him I could relate to. I'm not even sure what this book is about - It was just that awful.
Rating:
Summary: OH GOD!!!!
Review: The most introspective story the greatest writer of our time has ever put out. The book is a classic. A must read. I've heard a lot of people say its his least appealing effort and I can't stress how wrong they are. It is quite possibly his best work. It is without a doubt his best written book. It transcends any lackluster label critics and assorted bastards might pin onto it. genius. pure genius.
Rating:
Summary: NOT HIS BEST, FELLA
Review: The first story, "RHTRBC" is pretty poor stuff, fella, but you should buy the book just for the second story alone, fella.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed
Review: Well, I liked the first section in this one, it's pretty much what would be expected of Salinger, but the second part is again I suppose what you'd expect from him, except for the fact that its boring, I found it poorly written and a pain to read, I couldn't care enough about the characters to finish reading it the first few times I started. Personally if I read another Seymour story I'll vomit. I think he should have left Seymour alone after Bananafish, I didnt need to know all about him, hes interesting, but not captivating, more of a novelty, sideshow quality, or at least thats the impression I get of him.
|
