The story seems to be an allegory, but I can't get it completely.

What about feets and ankles? It should be some reason why they are mention several times during the story. Was Salinger a feet fetishist or this is another buddhist symbol?


Uncomfortable but first rate writing   May 4, 1998
 2 out of 4 found this review helpful

Salinger stories, typically, make me feel very uncomfortable. I do not like them because I do not like brussel sprouts. However, standing in the produce section of the grocery, I'll think, "maybe, I'll try brussel sprouts again. Maybe I'll like them today." I haven't liked them yet. A Perfect Day for Bananafish is about a guy named Seymour Glass who, I might add, some people think is Sargent X in To Esme with Love and Squalor. Seymour is living the death of his belief system via intellectual trauma due to war. War=the suspension of morality and to a highly moral individual a bananafish eats too many bananas and can't find his way back to life, back to a sem-balance of 'reality' The outcome is inevitable-some things are not acceptable. Sorta William Blake-ish. By far, the priority pieces in this book are Teddy and Down at the Dingy. Teddy because he is God and we are all God. Acceptable and intertwined with one another. Unwilling to separate from the material anchors which tie us down to a temporal existence. Down at the Dinghy because the story is about a boy who receives 'radio transmissions' in the form of human feeling. In so much, the words me nothing, the feeling means everything. I have to admit, it reminds me of my own son, who has not let his Batman shirt leave his body for 3 weeks. Not only because he has a special affinity for Batman but because the stability of the shirt makes him feel safe and strong. This review is precisely why Salinger makes me feel uncomfortable--I prefer to live in denial and feel secure. Maybe I should buy a Batman shirt.


fabulous   March 31, 1998
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is one of the few books I have ever not been able to tear away from. The endings are abrupt and thought provoking. The characters seemed complex and interesting however I could tell by certain situations and dialogue that there were a lot of Holden Caulfield's in it. I was, however, very touched and thought a lot about the book some time after reading it. The writing, as always it superb and the characters are three dimensional. Personally I like it but it is important to remember the time and settings of the book and Salinger's writing style. I thought that all of the stories were neither better nor worse than the next; they were just different. They showed different perspectives on life and how one views it. Even though Salinger may not have expereinced everything he worte about, it made me feel as if he had, or even as if I were there. If a writer can captivate a situation or feeling as well as that, you know he must be good. This book is just that, except maybe I could go so far as to say it's fabulous.