Sexie Sadie

I recently finished reading J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey. I had the small, plain paperback lying around in my room at home for a while now, but never really got the time to pick it up. It was recommended to me by a family friend who said that it was Salinger’s best work, better than Catcher in the Rye despite being less widely known. I was a fan of Catcher, so I was curious to see what Franny and Zooey had to offer. 

The book is made up of two part, both published separately in The New Yorker in the 1950s. The first is a short story and serves as a sort of prologue to the second part, which was originally published as a novella. 

The first part introduces Franny as a sort of anonymous university student who is becoming disenchanted with the selfishness and inauthenticity she perceives all around her, in Salinger’s good old Holden Caufield fashion. The second part begins with Zooey, Franny’s older brother, in the bath tub. Salinger gives more background to the family, and a large bulk of the book is made up of their mother, Bessie, coming into the bathroom to convince Zooey to comfort his emotionally ailing sister. He does so, offering his version of sage advice. 

I found this interesting tidbit on Wikipedia, and it seemed to sum up why I was so intrigued by the book: 

Gerald Rosen, in his short 1977 book Zen in the Art of J. D. Salinger, observes that Franny and Zooey could be interpreted as a modern Zen tale, with the main character, Franny, progressing over the course of the book from a state of ignorance to the deep wisdom of enlightenment.

I’ve always been interested in schools of thought and universal belief systems. In fact, I had quite a lively discussion with Boyfriend over the weekend concerning religion. (Afterwards, I vowed to myself to never start such an argument with him again.)  But this is one text that doesn’t necessarily give way to argument nor doubt. It’s really just a matter of thinking, in a more secular way, despite having the religious book The Way of a Pilgrim as its catalyst. 

A very quick read, and highly recommended.