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| Franny and Zooey | 
 enlarge | Author: J. Salinger
Publisher: Penguin
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £2.96
You Save: £5.03 (63%)
New (29) from £3.02
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 58267
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised edition
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 4.9 x 0.5
ISBN: 0140237526
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780140237528
ASIN: 0140237526
Publication Date: August 4, 1994
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 a touching story July 9, 2004
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
In 1955, when this story refers to, Franny is 21 years old. She is the youngest child of a family of seven children. In 1955, however, only four of her siblings are alive. The eldest of the Glass children, Seymour, committed suicide while vacationing in Florida with his wife in 1948. The second-eldest child, who might be no other but the author himself, named Buddy, was "writer-in-residence" at a girls' junior college in upper New York State. The next-eldest of the children, Boo Boo, was married and the mother of three children at the time. In order of age, a pair of twins, Walt and Waker, came after Boo Boo. Walt had been killed approximately ten years ago in an explosion while he was with the Army of Occupation in Japan. Waker on the other hand, had refused to join the army in the Second World War and had been shut in a conscientious objectors' camp in Maryland. At the time our story takes place he was a Roman Catholic priest. The second youngest of the Glass children, Zooye, was five years older than Franny and by profession he was an actor.
In "Franny" Salinger addresses the issue of existential anxiety. Franny is a sensitive young person who seeks spiritual enlightenment and self realization in a world of phoniness and hypocrisy. Beyond the subtle and beautiful story of love Salinger takes the chance to make some cutting and brilliant observations about the emptiness and the lack of spirituality that our society is build on and the great difficulties that one has to confront if he/she doesn't conform to the society's way of thinking.
Do it for the Fat Lady May 3, 2004
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
This is the book that proves just how big an author J D Salinger is - and he's massive. Catcher in the Rye, marvellous though it is, almost seems a footnote when weighed against the majesty of the Glass Family stories. I'm mixing metaphors here, but life is short so let's crack on. I've read Franny & Zooey many times (well, I'm certainly into double figures anyway) because I tend to indulge in a Salinger Festival every few years and read all his books in one glorious binge. Franny & Zooey is his best. It's funny, tender, intensely moving and has a warmth that is almost spiritual. I hesitate to use the term 'chicken soup for the soul' but that's the kind of effect it has on me. The last few pages of Zooey are some of the most beautiful I've ever read (I rank them alongside the closing paragraphs of Gatsby and On the Road to name but two - make of that what you will) and it never fails to put a spring in my step. It's books like Franny & Zooey that make life worth living, frankly.
What's not to like? October 12, 2003
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
J.D. Salinger is most popular for his book Catcher in the Rye-- which, don't get me wrong, I loved-- but Franny and Zooey is far superior. It is by no means as comic as Catcher, but it feels more personal, more moving, and is a truly brilliant work. For people who love to read, or love Salinger, or really anybody with good taste, this book is excellent. It is impossible to walk away from this work dissatisfied. Excellent character development and unique style. I give it five stars.
Clear description of being a teenager July 12, 2003
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
I don't know how Salinger does it. Catcher had to be one of my favourite books because I clearly identified with Holden. The sort of crazy, mixed up, pent up, depressed teenager. Franny and Zooey is just as good - it lives up to Catcher which is amazing. I may be short, dumpy and dull and totally different in outward appearance to the Glass children but I still found myself identifying with both Zooey and Franny equally. Salinger manages to sum up being a teenager effortlessly. His sheer brilliance allows anyone to indentify with the characters because he has cleverly woven every philosophy, feeling and thought into two characters who appear deceivingly simple. Yet they question the meaning of life and the reasons behind certain things. It is a brilliantly written book and encourages you to think about your own deep personal thoughts. Worth reading just for the feeling of connected to Franny alone, or it was for me.
Franny and Zooey- J.D Salinger's finest works. November 3, 2001
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
Franny and Zooey are by far my favourite Salinger stories, partly because i find myself hopelessly identifying with Franny, and partly because i may be in love with Zooey (make what you will of that incestuous arrangement!)For me, Salinger's greatest achievement and the very thing that allows this book to triumph over The Catcher In The Rye, is his achingly beautiful and sensitive response to religion and spirituality. The Glass family are an extrememly loveable alternative to Holden Caulfield's cynicism, but lack none of the cutting, brilliant observations that we associate with him. In Franny and Zooey, Salinger chooses to address a far more complex issue than adolescence, (although this in there too) and entrances the reader with a tale of emotional breakdown and the path to happiness through spiritual enlightenment and self realisation. Thanks to Salinger's unique view of life, this is possibly the most educational book i have ever read. Not only this, but it is beautifully written, whilst remaining entertaining and extremely funny in parts. If you are unsure about buying this book my advice would be to BUY IT NOW! And if you don't laugh, cry, and at somepoint thank GOD (aloud) for Salinger, the Glass family and the Fat Lady, then maybe Salinger just isn't the author for you...
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