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David's Reviews > Nine Stories
Nine Stories
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If I can get serious for a moment, and cast aside the brittle, smartassed, persona that the social networking aspect of goodreads tends to bring out, I'd like to try to express what it is that drives me in this life. It is the following belief, instilled primarily by my mother, an exceptionally smart woman who never suffered fools gladly, but had the mitigating grace to be one of the warmest, most generous women you could ever hope to meet, as well as having one of the greatest voices you can imagine (Buttercup)
Here's the main thing she taught me: each of us has an inescapable responsibility to take whatever talent we have been given on this earth, and to develop it as far and as well as life allows.
This is so deeply ingrained in my beliefs that I can pretty much trace every major decision I've made in my life back to it.
What does this have to do with the price of eggs? Well, it's the reason Jerome David Salinger makes me as mad as all get out. Because I can certainly understand why, given the perfection of the stories in this collection, any writer might not want to risk spoiling his reputation by following up with work that might not reach the same level. Hell, nothing could possibly reach the perfection of the stories, "For Esme - with Love and Squalor", "The Laughing Man", "Down by the Dinghy", or "Just Before the War with the Eskimos". And while I'm not really a great fan of Seymour Glass, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is pretty damned awesome as well.
So, yeah, J.D. - after those stories, it's hard to imagine anything better. Even anything comparable.
But that's still no excuse for not trying, you arrogant egotistical bastard. You were dealt a monumental, unimaginable, talent. And for you to squat there in-fucking-communicado in your bloody bunker in New England, resting on your admittedly golden freaking laurels, is an act of unconscionable, unpardonable, selfishness. I could almost convince myself that your genius crossing over into madness was the explanation for your lack of output, but you seem craftily able to sic your lawyers on anyone perceived to encroach on your goddamned "privacy".
So, while I can understand the impulse of not wanting to risk your reputation, I sure as hell can't forgive it. You were granted an incredible gift. You should be using it.
And, sorry folks, it's far beyond me to locate exactly where the genius lies in the particular stories mentioned. You really just need to read them for yourselves.
Here's the main thing she taught me: each of us has an inescapable responsibility to take whatever talent we have been given on this earth, and to develop it as far and as well as life allows.
This is so deeply ingrained in my beliefs that I can pretty much trace every major decision I've made in my life back to it.
What does this have to do with the price of eggs? Well, it's the reason Jerome David Salinger makes me as mad as all get out. Because I can certainly understand why, given the perfection of the stories in this collection, any writer might not want to risk spoiling his reputation by following up with work that might not reach the same level. Hell, nothing could possibly reach the perfection of the stories, "For Esme - with Love and Squalor", "The Laughing Man", "Down by the Dinghy", or "Just Before the War with the Eskimos". And while I'm not really a great fan of Seymour Glass, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is pretty damned awesome as well.
So, yeah, J.D. - after those stories, it's hard to imagine anything better. Even anything comparable.
But that's still no excuse for not trying, you arrogant egotistical bastard. You were dealt a monumental, unimaginable, talent. And for you to squat there in-fucking-communicado in your bloody bunker in New England, resting on your admittedly golden freaking laurels, is an act of unconscionable, unpardonable, selfishness. I could almost convince myself that your genius crossing over into madness was the explanation for your lack of output, but you seem craftily able to sic your lawyers on anyone perceived to encroach on your goddamned "privacy".
So, while I can understand the impulse of not wanting to risk your reputation, I sure as hell can't forgive it. You were granted an incredible gift. You should be using it.
And, sorry folks, it's far beyond me to locate exactly where the genius lies in the particular stories mentioned. You really just need to read them for yourselves.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
January 1, 1974
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Finished Reading
July 3, 2007
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Comments Showing 1-33 of 33 (33 new)
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Hated the book - loved your review!
you wanna throw, Donald?I'm feelin' feisty, and a Salinger thread is the place for me.
Yay, there hasn't been a Salinger argument around here in days.
*puts away brass knuckles*okay, okay.
The thing is, reviews like this make me think I need to try again... what am I missing?
Fuck. Yes. Where have you gone, 7th grade?!?!Donald: A Perfect Day for Bananafish FUCKING RUINED ME.
You've been on a nice little roll lately.Incidentally, you read this book before I was born. Just thought I'd share that with you.
If we soon see "J.D. Salinger (A 欧宝娱乐 Author!)", we'll know who to thank. You gave it your best shot.
what am I missing?
You're missing A LOT, Bells! A LOT!
How can a wonderful, smart, witty person like yourself not appreciate the wonderful, smart, witty prose of J.D. Salinger? (Did my flattery woo you to my cause? If not, did I mention you're a bangin' HOT mama*??)
Check. Your. Mailbox.
* I wasn't kidding when I said she's a bangin' hot mama, Goodreaders. I've met the broad in person.
You're missing A LOT, Bells! A LOT!
How can a wonderful, smart, witty person like yourself not appreciate the wonderful, smart, witty prose of J.D. Salinger? (Did my flattery woo you to my cause? If not, did I mention you're a bangin' HOT mama*??)
Check. Your. Mailbox.
* I wasn't kidding when I said she's a bangin' hot mama, Goodreaders. I've met the broad in person.
Wow, David. You had me until "broad" and then...Seriously, I think I promised Booby I'd read this again anyway... So I'll try.
Now, don't ask me to reread Gatsby. That's a no.
(Check. Your. Mailbox. That never ever gets old. It should, but it doesn't.)
This book was my traveling companion along the Oregon Coast for 18 days--we dined and laughed together. It is the best book i ever read! I so cherish it and the memories attached. Great review my friend! BRAVO!!!!
It's interesting that Salinger still manages to have something of a polarizing effect lo these many years on. Seriously folks. This is one of the seminal books from my youth (which as "young Buck" Mulligan seems to feel necessary to point out, was a while ago now, but us old fogies have the right to our opinions too). The other book by Salinger that affected me greatly was "Franny and Zooey", but David Amadeus has pretty much given it the definitive review here already:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
so anything I might add would be superfluous. And seem stupid.
Damn you again, Amadeus. Once more you ecleepse us with your brilliance.
(and thanks, Noran, and everyone else!)
David Amadeus...me likes it!a new moniker was needed by now for the Great Other David...
Bells, you promised me you would read Franny and Zooey again, but this one'll do. In fact, I'm long overdue for a reread of both.
Me too. In fact, I bought Franny & Zooey last Summer to re-read, and my friend took it!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRR!!!
Shit. Does that mean I have to read BOTH?!?!?
Yes my dear and Raise the Roof beams too!
Nooooo! Gotta disagree with Noran on that one. "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" is pretty much the self-indulgent dreck of the Salinger canon. Just ammunition for the haters.However, I would submit that if Books reads "Nine Stories", then she will feel impelled to read "F & Z".
The dreck is Catcher in the Rye my buddy fiend-this is where we differ. I saved the Novel for last--to saver it--it just bombed for me. maybe because I am a gal and reading it late in life-, BUT I JUST DO NOT GET IT AT ALL MAN!!!!! I do hope to hunt down the short stories he did in magazinbe, that never were published in book form-at least a friend told me he did it 15 years ago. Raise does bring you down, but it is still good writing.
I want to creep into his house and check it out while he sleeps one nite at Big Sur! :)
Oh, he is the Carole King of Writing?!
Yarb raises a valid, and interesting, point. At some level, deep down, I know that this is probably the correct explanation. So you might ask, why take Salinger to task in a review, as I did? Indeed, why write reviews that ask rhetorical questions of the author, any author? It's not as if they are going to reply. In this case, it reflects more than a tired rhetorical device though; it's kind of a wish-fulfillment thing. There are some authors who have such an effect on your intellectual and emotional development that you feel a kind of proprietary interest in their work - on some odd personal level, you feel the author has an obligation to keep writing, just for you. Which might be nonsensical, from any kind of objective viewpoint, but there is still that immense gut-level disappointment. The other, simpler, reason for writing the review was mere proselytization (spelling?). These stories are so terrific that, yes, if my review can motivate people to (re)read them, that in itself is worthwhile.
19: Yes, please.: )
There are some authors who have such an effect on your intellectual and emotional development that you feel a kind of proprietary interest in their work - on some odd personal level, you feel the author has an obligation to keep writing, just for you. Which might be nonsensical, from any kind of objective viewpoint, but there is still that immense gut-level disappointment.
David, I agree.
I kind of wonder if, like Tupac's music, we'll see a bunch of posthumous writings emerge one day. I hope it's not as Yarb suggested.
this has reappeared in my update feed.it's such a great review & I love your mum's philosophy David G.
I loved Salinger's Franny and Zooey and Catcher in the Rye. I need to re-read both, because I think about F&Z more often than I do the other and I rated it lower. I think this was due to the "wow" factor of reading Catcher first and being caught unexpectedly by the genius of it. Never read the 9 stories. It will be a treat, I am sure. Fundie evangelicals have this strange "hate the sin/love the sinner" motto and it reminds me of the conflicted way in which I approach Salinger- "hate the writer/love the writing"
Great review, btw.
Have read everything by Salinger and remember thinking it was not enough.His talent hoarding reminds me of Ralph Ellison, who was also dealt a wealth of ability.
Just because you have talent doesn't mean you are emotionally capable of using it. It's sad when people can't/don't, but we have no way of knowing their personal nightmares. Ralph Ellison spent years writing his next novel, Juneteenth, and couldn't finish it. J. D. Salinger's WWI experiences may have continued to haunt him. Many writers, musicians, and other artists cut their lives short in self-destructive ways. Just because someone lives on doesn't always mean that person can continue to create as before.
Aside from the ultimate truth that the beauty, or in this case the opinion is n the eye of the book-holder (sorry)... This review is brilliance on its own! Love love love it. Why hold back? Your mamma wouldn't ;). Cheers to you ;)
I highly recommend the new bio of Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno. Apparently, he was writing all that time, just not publishing. Eventually, we'll get to see it all.
This is one of my favorite discussion threads on goodreads. It reminds me of how much I miss David Amadeus.
Excellent review.
That is such a beautiful review. I also love what your mother said, and I realised I do try and live by that, just didn鈥檛 have the words for it. I understand exactly what you mean because I don鈥檛 resonate with a lot of writers especially in this age and time so I know exactly how you feel about Salinger. But I hope to see the day where I can produce such output that someone writes such an angry review for me because they鈥檙e so in awe of me!
Bring on the haters!
Sorry, stupid world, this is one of the best books of all time. ALL time. Did you hear me? ALL TIME!