Franny and Zooey
Reviewed by: Lale Eskicioglu lale@readliterature.com
I liked this book very much. The story of Franny and Zooey flowed before me within just a day. As early as the restaurant dialogue I knew that this was going to be one of my five star books. The descriptions are delightful, especially the inside of the bathroom cabinet and the living room. As the narrator of the second part of this novella tells us, it is a love story, pure and complicated. If you read this book, you will want to (and you should) read Salinger's Nine Stories which tells other portions of lives of the Glass children. Salinger is a great story teller.
However, there is another reason why this book is so special for me. In summer of 1999, I bought this book in one of Ottawa's used book stores. It was in excellent condition, almost "unread". On the inside of the front cover, there was (still is) this inscription:
I'm not giving you this book for it's [ sic ] religious content, even though that's interesting. It just was really warming at the end.
So, Gabe (whose handwriting is not illegible but close) gave this book to Tara at the end of 1988, as a Christmas gift. In less than 11 years, the book was sold to a second-hand book store. I know the store and I know that they pay a maximum of 50 Canadian cents for a small paperback such as this one. What made Tara sell a book, a Christmas gift no less, and inscribed too, for as little as 50 cents? Maybe their friendship broke and Tara was so mad at Gabe that she couldn't bear to possess a book given by her. Or, maybe Tara was not happy with the "religious content". Or, maybe during those 10+ years, Tara died and her heirs, not having any place to put all her stuff, sold her things for next to nothing. We'll never know. Unless, of course Tara or Gabe or someone who knows them reads this and chooses to enlighten us.
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