'Franny and Zooey' by J.D. Salinger - Review

My rating: 8/10

Since The Catcher in the Rye is one of my all-time favourite novels, I have for a while wanted to read another of Salinger's books. About a month ago I found a beautiful first UK edition copy of Franny and Zooey, and have finally just gotten around to reading it.

The thing that I enjoyed most about Franny and Zooey (although particularly evident in Zooey) was the way in which Salinger spoke of his characters. It is widely argued that Salinger was 'too absorbed' in the Glass family and valued his creation of them too much, however I disagree with this being a negative aspect of his writing. Yes, his tendency to idolise the Glass family does result in a fairly slow-moving plot, however this makes way for more extensive character descriptions, giving the reader a chance to really get to know the characters despite the short length of the story and novella.

Moreover, the plot itself is nonetheless a sturdy one. In Franny, young Franny Glass is depicted as meeting her boyfriend Lane Coutell in a fancy lunchroom. Throughout the date, her strange behaviour influences the revelation of a religious epiphany in her character, brought on by the book The Way of a Pilgrim and the 'Jesus Prayer' it beholds. Zooey holds connections to this as it takes place after the incidents of Franny, with various impacts of it being continued in the novella. We are introduced to the character of Zooey Glass, who is taking a bath whilst reading an old letter from his older brother Buddy. Throughout the novella there is a focus on his duties within the family, and nostalgia for when they were all together in unity.

The book explores in detail themes of religion, identity, education and family, providing an ultimately wholehearted evaluation of how we look upon others, and in doing so helps Franny Glass begin to overcome her spiritual issues. Zooey teachers their late brother Seymour's lessons to Franny and attempts to impersonate their brother (and the narrator) Buddy Glass' voice whilst doing so, creating the sense of the whole family being their to support her - something which is impossible to capture with the loss of Seymour. Following her epiphany, Franny has come to show complete distaste in everyone and everything around her including herself, labeling everyone as egotistical, conforming phonies. This theme is interestingly very similar to the view of Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, however here it takes a very different twist. Instead of carrying this ideology to the end, Zooey encourages Franny (and therefore Salinger encourages the reader) to respect and love all people simply for their humanity, despite their actions or personality which many people may not have ordinarily accepted.

Through this voice of wisdom from Zooey, the books retain moral stability and deeply explores human thoughts and identity in a way that encourages open-mindedness and acceptance.