Sign in with Facebook
Pragya Agarwal's Reviews > Franny and Zooey
Franny and Zooey
by
by
There's nothing I am about to say in praises for this book that hasn't been said already. I just feel like if I could hug Salinger or anyone of his characters I'd just do that instead. Since I can't I will get my hug in the form of praises only.
1. The characters. Salinger just has this quality of animating every little thing- not just thing, every little dust particle, the heaviness of a sigh, the diminishing length of the cigarette after every other dialogue - it makes you a spectator yourself, like you are there with them. I admire his way of writing so much. And no, I know you'd say many writers do that - no it's not the same. The subtlety, the warmth, it makes you feel the air where his characters are present.
2. Budding the conversation. I think some people would say that it was "stretched" in the beginning of Zooey's part but I think that was important. The depth of the things that are discussed in the last 30-40 pages of the book, there had to be some easiness and reality to it. He made it feel that Zooey was talking and not some God. Salinger made Zooey a real person to make us believe that it was a person who was talking to us and that Zooey is himself flawed that he isn't 'pious'.
3. The conversation. There is hardly anything I can say about that. This book obviously is for a specific audience only. Those who like to read character driven books. It has no plot which is it's beauty. It is not a story about a 21 year old Franny. It's what piece of advice her brother, Zooey has for her. It is complex because Franny is complex, we are complex beings who don't know our purpose in life. Yet this isn't some kind of a motivational speech by Zooey. You will know when you read it.
4. The little girls. The girl Buddy met at the meat shop, Syemour's little girl on the plane or Zooey's girl with her dachshund, all of them signal the core of what Salinger is trying to talk to us about- of the simpler times. When we were heedless kids. Where Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye talks about these "phonies", through Zooey and Franny he is trying to give us the 'secret' of how to deal with them. It just left me in awe. It's such a small, little, loving book.
5. The end. The Fat Lady. Even if Zooey had not given a character to this Fat Lady I was so much impacted by it that I felt it. I just felt, that's it. I figured The Fat Lady. I saw her. I felt for her. And there it was. I received my wisdom.
Actually you know what, just forget about what I said , this book being only for a 'specific' audience. I think everyone should read it once for each one us have found ourselves judgemental about these "phonies" some or the other times in our lives. I am sure you will have something different to take from it.
1. The characters. Salinger just has this quality of animating every little thing- not just thing, every little dust particle, the heaviness of a sigh, the diminishing length of the cigarette after every other dialogue - it makes you a spectator yourself, like you are there with them. I admire his way of writing so much. And no, I know you'd say many writers do that - no it's not the same. The subtlety, the warmth, it makes you feel the air where his characters are present.
2. Budding the conversation. I think some people would say that it was "stretched" in the beginning of Zooey's part but I think that was important. The depth of the things that are discussed in the last 30-40 pages of the book, there had to be some easiness and reality to it. He made it feel that Zooey was talking and not some God. Salinger made Zooey a real person to make us believe that it was a person who was talking to us and that Zooey is himself flawed that he isn't 'pious'.
3. The conversation. There is hardly anything I can say about that. This book obviously is for a specific audience only. Those who like to read character driven books. It has no plot which is it's beauty. It is not a story about a 21 year old Franny. It's what piece of advice her brother, Zooey has for her. It is complex because Franny is complex, we are complex beings who don't know our purpose in life. Yet this isn't some kind of a motivational speech by Zooey. You will know when you read it.
4. The little girls. The girl Buddy met at the meat shop, Syemour's little girl on the plane or Zooey's girl with her dachshund, all of them signal the core of what Salinger is trying to talk to us about- of the simpler times. When we were heedless kids. Where Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye talks about these "phonies", through Zooey and Franny he is trying to give us the 'secret' of how to deal with them. It just left me in awe. It's such a small, little, loving book.
5. The end. The Fat Lady. Even if Zooey had not given a character to this Fat Lady I was so much impacted by it that I felt it. I just felt, that's it. I figured The Fat Lady. I saw her. I felt for her. And there it was. I received my wisdom.
Actually you know what, just forget about what I said , this book being only for a 'specific' audience. I think everyone should read it once for each one us have found ourselves judgemental about these "phonies" some or the other times in our lives. I am sure you will have something different to take from it.
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
Franny and Zooey.
Sign In »
