Franny and Zooey [Unknown Binding]

Critically denounced on publication by several eminent commentators of the time (Updike, Didion, etc), Franny and Zooey has, over the past few years, enjoyed something of an academic rehabilitation. (In particular, see Janet Malcolm's excellent article for the New York Review of Books, Volume 48, Number 10 which can be found at www.nybooks.com/articles/14272). The book consists of a short story and novella entitled Franny and Zooey respectively. (They were originally published separately in the New Yorker, two years apart).

`Franny' focuses on a date with her boyfriend Lane, just prior to an American football game he is anxious not to miss. In contrast to the effusive affection expressed in the letter she sent him before this occasion, she finds him increasingly irritating. This is exacerbated by his boasting about his recent Flaubert essay. For his part, Lane cannot understand why she is not eating, nor can he account for her growing nervousness and disengagement. Twice she has to excuse herself, seemingly unwell. It transpires that she has been reading a devotional book entitled `Way of the Pilgrim'. This has inspired her to endlessly repeat the `Jesus Prayer' in the hope of emulating its hero by praying so incessantly that it is as subconscious an act as her heart beating. Indeed, after the second time, she is found collapsed still murmuring the prayer.

The action in `Zooey' takes place just a few days later. Franny has returned home to recuperate. Zooey, Franny's elder brother, has been enjoying a leisurely soak while rereading a four-year-old letter from his brother, Buddy (who is also the absent narrator). Quite preachy, it exhorts him to better appreciate their mother, Bessie, and explains part of the reason for the family difficulty in coping with other people. (All seven of the children had been precocious prodigies and had featured regularly on the radio quiz show `The Wise Child'). Just after he completes his reading, his mother bursts in. Concerned about Franny, she nags him to talk to her. Eventually, having shaved and dressed, he agrees. Finding that his hectoring tone and insensitivity (unsurprisingly) are upsetting her, he apologises and leaves the room. Seeking inspiration, perhaps, he enters his brother Seymour's room (who had committed suicide some years before). Using the private phone, he calls Franny, pretending to be Buddy, and tries again. This second attempt appears to be effective.

Throughout both pieces, Salinger never falters in his attention to detail. It feels filmic (in point of fact, the narrator describes it as a `home movie'). The realistic dialogue, though dated, is snappy and sprinkled with humour. Characterization, too, is very strong: these people are almost tangible.

Owing to its short length, it would be easy to read this in one evening. One word of caution, however: this is a book to be savoured, both for its language and for its ideas. The issues it highlights are thought provoking and intriguing and it is worth taking one's time over. Further, it naturally lends itself to repeated re-reading - a rare quality indeed. This purchase will repay your investment one thousand-fold: it is emphatically not a read and ditch novel (although you may well wish to acquire copies for your friends). Not often do you get an opportunity to pick up such a well-crafted work of art for so little money. Seize this one.

Salinger described this as a "pretty flimsy book". The vast majority of writers out there should be so lucky if they can write something as wonderful as this. The attention to detail lays a spell over me every time I read this book, which I have done on a regular basis for the past fifteen or so years. It is incredibly indulgent; the decription of the Glass living room is little more than an artsy list, yet it's so wonderfully delivered that you are right there, staring at the root beer stain from behind the couch. The three characters; the frail, needy Franny (a fifties version of Charlotte in Lost in Translation), acrid, hyper-critical Zooey, and their irrepressible mother deserve each other in more ways than one. Basically, it's crunch time in the young life of Franny Glass, who has found that she cannot cope outside the cosy, intellectual confines of her own family, with more than one ghost, one of whom (Buddy) is still alive, yet seems more intent in lecturing them from beyond the metaphorical grave of his cabin in the back of beyond. In an effort to counter the "phonies" at college, she has taken to a sort of ascetic lifestyle, the focal point of which is a spiritual book, revolving around an endlessly recited prayer. Both brother and mother callously try to bludgeon this out of her, one with kind offers of chicken broth, and the other, with long, detailed critiques of her methods. The poor girl copes in the only way she can; by crying lots and blowing her nose. But you learn a vast amount about this family, and you discover they are not so eccentric as their methods and choices of self-expression might at first suggest. In short, both brother and sister discover something, and it's more than worth discovering along with them. There are many great books, but there are no books like Franny and Zooey, and there won't be again. Catcher was his greatest achievement, without a doubt, but I prefer this book. Although, these days, I seem to side more and more with the mother!

How can one pin down the ouevre of such an elusive and enigmatic writer as JD Salinger?

'Franny and Zooey' is composed of a short story and a novella - both exquisitely wrought and complementing each other - concerning the existential crisis and emotional breakdown of Franny Lane, the youngest of seven precociously talented and intelligent children.

'Franny' - the short story - brilliantly depicts the young woman's date with her pompous boyfriend, and already the themes that one would expect from Salinger's teasing, tantalising portion of published works are visible: existential anxiety over what exactly is 'fitting in,' the words and actions of the 'phonies' and how they impact on sensitive people such as Franny.

'Zooey', whilst still being concerned with Franny, portrays her brother's growing concern over his younger sister, who has taken to moping around the house in an emotional lethargy following her nervous episode documented in `Franny'. Zooey, at the rather comic instigation of his mother while he is having a bath, realises that he must help her get over it all in some way, though until the end of the story, doesn't seem to know how to. It is a beautifully-measured novella which takes its time, and reveals through its inaction rather than action.

Both pieces are witty, wordy and brilliantly realised. What I particularly enjoy is how engaging Salinger's style is, how he can deal with important themes relating to humanity and the individual's place within it, with the greatest and ease and enjoyment on the part of the reader. Indeed, many people have commented on the underlying allusions to Zen Buddhism and other spiritualism: huge themes that are dealt with in a wryly understated and very human fashion.

As such, when Salinger arrives at some sort of denouement or conclusion, it hits and resonates, as it does with 'Franny and Zooey,' with huge emotional impact.

This is a book to be savoured, to be enjoyed for its great dialogue, its perfectly profound realism and its humanity. That is, possibly, where one can recognise Salinger's greatness.