Franny and Zooey

This book consists of two interrelated stories about members of the Glass family. These kids (seven of them if I remember well) are the children of a showbusiness family from New York and they used to be genius-kids who appeared on a radio show answering quizzes and philosophizing. Apparently the Glass kids had a special education in an ecumenical religiosity and philosophy, and their situation as whiz kids has led to emotional distress, much a-la Holden Caulfield but more illustrated. By the way, in terms of its central themes, this book could be said to be the closing of the full circle of Caulfield's story. The Glasses, just like Caulfield, are intelligent people, very frustrated with the inadequacies of life in general and the people who surround them. They are very neurotic in a New York way. They are angry because people aren't as intelligent as they should be, and because the ways of the world are not what reason and humanism tell us they should be. How to cope with it?

In the first story, Franny, a young college girl, arrives in New Haven (Yale) to be with her preppy and also intellectualizing boyfriend for a football weekend. They go to a cafe to have some food (and drinks and cigarettes). The story is simply the account of their talk. Salinger is one of the greatest masters of frenzied and fast dialogue, and it shows here. Franny is telling his boyfriend about all the phoniness of campus life, about the lunacy and presumptuosness of teachers and classmates. She tells him how she has read a book about a Russian monk who discovers a special Jesus prayer. If you repeat this prayer incessantly, it will become a part of you and repeat itself automatically, bringing you closer to grace and peace. The conversation starts getting out of hand as Franny gets carried away and as the boyfriend becomes rather estranged, until Franny collapses on her way to the restroom. When she wakes up, she is constantly whispering the Jesus prayer.

In the second story, Franny is at her parents' home in NY, recovering from her nervous breakdown. In a long talk with her brother Zooey (both of them being the youngest Glass children), they confront each other's traumas, weaknesses, genius and problems with the world. Zooey is also extremely talented and aware of the inadequacies of the world, but he seems to be in a (slightly) better emotional phase than Franny. The dialogue is moving, neurotic and masterful. After they argue rather violently, Zooey goes to another room and calls Franny pretending to be an older brother living away. In a further conversation Zooey forces Franny to understand that following a simple but futile recipe will not do the trick. The Jesus prayer is not enough: we have to accept the world as it is as well as the people around us. We can not be "catchers in the rhye". But we should live an ethical life, just because (which made me think of Kant's "categorical imperative"). As Seymour Glass, the eldest brother, once said to Zooey, sometimes you have to do things "for the Fat Lady", that is, just because it is the right thing to do, even if no one will notice.

"Frany and Zooey" is written in a lower key. It is unprententious, unlike its characters, but deep down it is about profound questions. How to cope with this mad world filled with people who are not bright nor good? Can you save the world? How to live? Yes, sometimes we have to do things we wouldn't like to do, but we have to do it, if only for the Fat Lady.

This was THE book of the 50's and early 60's, along with Catcher in the Rye. In some strange way, J.D. Salinger caught the angst of the young and thoughtful and they grabbed these books with both hands. But do they speak to youth (or anyone else) today?

Well, maybe Franny and Zooey is worth a look. For one, take the fact that "The Prayer of Jabez" is on the best seller list now for weeks. This book recommends a fixed prayer, to be repeated as sort of a meditation. In Franny and Zooey, Franny, a brilliant and introspective teenager, comes home frantically repeating the "Jesus Prayer", looking for some kind of metaphysical escape from herself. She's looking for some kind of Zen-like release from ego. Part of growing up is discovering who we are and we may not like everything we see. Part of maturation, much later on, is accepting even those flaws. But Franny wants an instant release from distasteful self-discovery, so she heads instead for destruction.

Her brother Zooey saves her by an ingenious bit of sophistry; isn't focusing on escaping the self a form of egotism? He argues that her ideas are flawed and provides a lot of interesting arguments about her belief system. For example, his astute remarks that Franny disapproves of Jesus and is more sympathetic with Buddhism is strikingly akin to people today who feel strongly they must become vegetarian and disapprove of Christians and yet cannot say exactly why, except that they feel Christians criticize them and that animals are somehow innocent and all-loving. Consider this quote from Zooey:

"And the other thing you disapproved of- the thing you had the Bible open to- was the lines 'Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.' That was all right. That was lovely. That you approved of. But, when Jesus says in the same breath, 'Are ye not much better than they?'- ah, that's where little Franny gets off. That's where little Franny quits the Bible cold and goes straight to Buddha, who doesn't discriminate against all those nice fowls of the air. All those sweet, lovely chickens and geese that we used to keep up at the Lake."

Salinger's uncanny depiction of the anguish of youth, coupled with Eastern mysticism and an eccentric but lovable family became a cult classic in the 50's. While Catcher in the Rye unerringly pinpoints the feelings of a teenage boy, Franny catches so much of the feelings of a girl that some analysts of the book have proposed that the real reason behind Franny's breakdown was that she was pregnant. I totally reject that notion, but it is interesting that her troubles are so well described that readers ascribe a typical teen trouble, rather than the fact that Franny, like Holden Caulfield, is facing maturity with fear and loathing. Worth reading.

Many Salinger fans, upon reading Franny and Zooey, are quick to draw comparisons to Catcher In the Rye. That was exactly what I did the first time I read this novel nearly twenty five years ago; but after several years of lauding Franny and Zooey as the pinochle of Salinger's work, it dawned on me that while there are angry or confused youngsters who feel like societal misfits in each novel, they come from such different worlds that comparing the two stories is just, well... apples & oranges.

What made Franny and Zooey more endearing to me was the family dynamics. In contrast to Catcher in the Rye's focus on Holden Caulfield's unhappiness as an individual, the nervous breakdown that Franny Glass suffers early in the story has more to do with being a member of the Glass Family than it does her individual anxieties. And unlike Holden, who is coping in the larger world, Franny suffers as a shut-in at the home she grew up in.

I believe that most people who have dealt with well meaning but misguided families will find themselves drawn toward this story. The Glass Family is one of the finest examples of a large and dysfunctional family (before it was cool to be dysfunctional), with an emotionally charged but diverse collection of grown children dealing with the complexeties of their upbringing.

The story focuses equally on Franny and her older brother Zooey. They are two youngest children in the Glass Family, raised by their parents and older siblings on vaudeville style entertainment, philosophy and intelligentsia. While Franny's breakdown seems a mystery to her and paralyzes her emotions, Zooey is pent up with anger and well too aware of the emotional wreckage their upbringing has left the Glass offspring to clean up. Feeling a bond with Franny as the two youngest children, Zooey wants to help his sister, but must first temper his rage and self destructive tendencies.

Going into much more detail would be an injustice to anyone who has yet to read this story. In my opinion, this is a classic story of twentieth century Americana. From Zooey's self loathing to the dialogue between him and his busy-body mother to Franny's aggravation with her boyfriend Lane, J.D. Salinger gives us a portrait of a family in crisis, unequaled until The Ramones recorded the dark comedic "We're a Happy Family" years later. And no, I'm not kidding! Gabba Gabba!

So says Franny to her college beau, Lane in response to his wondering why she quit acting in school. I love this line; and many more. After having read Catcher in the Rye & some of his short stories back in high-school (many years ago), I finally found the right time & place to pick up where I left off with Salinger. Franny & Zooey is a wonderful "second novel", and recaptured much of the plain language & straight-forward conversational rhythm that I remembered enjoying while reading Catcher in the Rye. There are lots of interesting reviews here about this book and how it's affected people. I truly understand now, how reading an important book at different stages of one's life can take on new significance, often in very different ways from the initial reading. Since this is my first time through Franny & Zooey, I feel obligated to compare it to Catcher. The many similarities between the two novels include the age of the main characters (college), connections with acting or actors/"hollywood", addiction to cigarettes (is there a single line in this book not spoken without a cigarette in hand?), and the confessional nature of conversation in which "family" looms large. But while Holden Caulfield, Franny, & Zooey all complain about the "phonyness" of the world around them, Holden seems (as I recall - it's been twelve years since I last read Catcher) more preoccupied with youth & preservation, while Franny & Zooey delve into religion. Ultimately, Franny & Zooey is about an existential crisis - Franny's hunger for religion & truth while feeling overwhelmed by the superficiality of pedantic professors, erudite intellectuals, and, well, her "lame" boyfriend himself. She is so overwhelmed that she faints at the restaurant.

Enter Zooey. Zooey is a bit of an intellectual himself, as is the whole Glass family. Thus, the ironical nature of much of Zooey's "speaches". Salinger lets Zooey be long-winded and he takes up most of the novel. I think some readers might be put of by this, and it can be a trifle tiresome at times, but it does end up "feeling right" afterwards when Zooey's child-prodigy monster of a character shows its true colours. This unique characterization is one reason why Salinger is recognized as a great American writer. In any event, despite his condesending treatment of his mother, which comes across as strange, mean, and funny all at once, Zooey is ultimately just being himself. This monster, Salinger seems to be saying, is exactly what his parents "Les & Bess" have created. We learn that the oldest kid, Seymour has committed suicide, and the second oldest, Buddy, has moved far away (but is present in the form of a letter & in spirit). Zooey is taking a bath, smoking, and reading his big brothers letter. It looks like Buddy has thankfully "escaped" the grasp of this obsessive family - run Buddy, run! (Before leaving the bathroom, make sure you note Salinger's precise description of the medicine cabinet's contents - there are some telling details there). Ultimately, Zooey makes his way out to the living room (also described in excellent detail) where lays Franny, curled up in a ball with the family cat. By the end, the slightly older but more immature Zooey is finally acting like a big-brother should (although tellingly, incapable of a face to face conversation - you'll have to read & see for yourself), and manages to display some real wisdom. The conversation between the two of them revolves around the nature of ego, and religious impulse, and Zooey consults with his memories of Seymour & Buddy (his gurus, whether he likes it or not) in order to calm Franny down. He's been through it, and understands her very well. He tells her not to make these signifcant issues out to be "so damn personal". It's a great moment too, when Zooey starts talking to Franny about "the Fat Lady".

As I write this review which I didn't imagine would become this long-winded (Zooey has infected me!) I realize that this book is deeper than Catcher, and perhaps more significant. I'm actually more impressed with its simplicity than its deep & meaningful subject-matter. Salinger's "greatness" is his wonderful ability to capture the beauty in something as seemingly mundane as two college kids sitting at a table, smoking, eating "snails & frog-legs", sipping martinis, and talking about themselves. You'll have no problem reading this book in one or two sittings, and then you'll come away from it thinking, "Wow! I need to re-read that some day, in some other place & time." I still hear the Zen-like clapping of Zooey's hand(s)...

One final note about Salinger. My impression is that there is no way he intended to stop writing (and I don't think he did) after Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenters & Seymour. Yes, he stopped "publishing", but Franny & Zooey just feels too much like one face of a complex prism - that prism ultimately being a whole book of stories & novellas dealing with the Glass family. There's so much missing, it seems, in terms of the other family members, and especially the Mother & Father themselves. My guess is that one day, perhaps after Salinger's death as he seems to intend, we will have multiple "Franny & Zooey's" to compliment & fill out this incongruously short Glass saga . . . I, for one, look forward to the discovery & printing (& glorious fanfare!!) of a NEW Salinger story. It's just a matter of whether or not he chooses to be around for the zoo.

I read Catcher in the Rye many years ago, and absolutely loved it, as much people do. However, I hadn't heard much about any of his other books, so recently I decided to look into it. This is when I fell upon Franny and Zooey. This book means a lot to me now for many reasons. It's a work of absolute genius. You can see hints of Holden in Zooey AND Franny, and I always like when an author makes subtle hints towards a different book. Franny and Zooey touches on everything - love, family, religion - and youth. The way Salinger portrays Franny to me is moving. She's this lovely young girl, who seemingly has everything for the taking; however, the road to adulthood makes her question EVERYTHING. Many young people question everything, and sometimes I don't think it's talked about enough. Salinger does it justice. Another reason I enjoyed this book is because you can definitely see what an influential author he was. Kurt Vonnegut HAD to have been an admirer. This book is fabulous, deep, and interesting. Who knows? It may make you look at life from a different perspective.