It has been a long time since I posted a book review. Much like the crafting aspect of the site, it has been neglected since I’ve been so food focussed lately. But, I recently finished a book that I just loved and had to talk about. “Franny and Zooey” by J.D. Salinger.

This is the first book I’ve read by J.D. Salinger. I know, I must be the only person in the world who has never read “Catcher in the Rye”. But, I randomly added this book to my Amazon list last time I placed a big book order and it was the first one I picked up. I am very glad I made this random choice because I thought it was wonderful.

The book is largely dialogue. I would guess 75%. And it is witty, emotional, philosophical, and engaging. “Franny and Zooey” is actually a short story entitled “Franny” and a novella, “Zooey”. They are both members of the Glass family, a well to do New York family of misfits and geniuses. They are two out of seven grown children of the family, all of whom were at one time or another guests on a popular radio show of the time, “It’s A Wise Child”. They are well educated, in fact, perhaps overeducated, which leads to their bizarre outlooks on life and general unhappiness. Franny and Zooey are the youngest of the bunch and their elder siblings saw to their education. Zooey talks about how the older brothers made “freaks” out of them by choosing such strange things for them to study.

The short story “Franny” begins when Franny meets her boyfriend Lane at the train station for a weekend at his college. They have plans to have cocktails with people and go to a football game. They go for lunch and Lane prattles on about all the important things that are happening in his life. But, Franny finds herself in a destructive mood. She breaks apart all of his happiness and seems to be somewhere else. She finally changes the subject to a book that she has been reading, “The Way of a Pilgrim”. It is the tale of a simple pilgrim who goes on a search to find out what it means in the Bible when it says that one should pray incessantly. He travels the world looking for a teacher who can explain it and he discovers The Jesus Prayer, which is simply “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” He is told that if you repeat it to yourself over and over, it may begin as just words, but it eventually becomes part of your heartbeat. It works its way inside a person and can show you God. It becomes clear that Franny is obsessed with this idea, talking about how there are parallels in various religions and cultures and how she finds it “fascinating”. However, we see her slowly breaking down over the course of her lunch, and she eventually passes out. When she awakes, we see her lips silently moving and realize she has begun her pilgrim path.

“Zooey” takes up with her brother, Zooey, in their parent’s apartment in New York. Franny is also there, essentially having a breakdown in the living room. This novella explores some of the background of the family and the interesting characters that it contains. Zooey talks to Franny and tries to alternately understand what she is doing, berate her for having such a shallow nervous breakdown, and try to talk her out of doing her Jesus Prayer. It is mostly dialogue, and fascinating dialogue at that.

I was left thinking that this book would be a phenomenal stage play. The characters were rich. The situation was bizarre and engaging. It was short and sweet. Or if not exactly sweet, a sentimental and simultaneously deep exploration of ego and the search for what our purpose is in this world.