Eccezionale.
Per ora la mia raccolta di racconti preferita assieme a quelle di Carver.
Qualche citazione a caso ma ce ne sarebbero mille. [84/100]

"Ridicolo soprannome a parte, non-bellezza d'insieme a parte, era senza alcun dubbio - nella categoria dei faccini permanentemente memorabili, prodigiosamente intensi -, una ragazza sconvolgente e definitiva."

"Mi ha detto che andava matto per Jane Austen. Diceva che i libri di Jane Austen erano una cosa importante, nella sua vita. Precise parole. E dopo che l'ho sposato ho scoperto che non ne aveva letto uno che è uno."

"E' un fatto che appare sempre ovvio quando è ormai troppo tardi, ma la più spiccata differenza tra la felicità e la gioia è che la felicità è un solido e la gioia un liquido."

I was surprised by just how good some of these stories turned out to be, after not getting my hopes up for anything that special. And as a fan of the short-stories of John Cheever, Raymond Carver, and Richard Yates, Salinger sits in this company pretty well, in creating brief snapshots of life that capture glittering sharp moments, generally focusing on adults encountering overly aware, truth-telling children. The heart of each story is set to the beat of its characters accounts of the way in which they move through the world and interact with one another, from their confidential phone-calls and wisecracking conversations, to the cautious articulation of their understated feelings and nascent beliefs. Salinger's characters are chosen chiefly for their capacity to spark potent dialogue.
And the heavy dialogue used in some of the stories just works superbly well. Vividly told, with gentle humour and a heightened sense of emotion, this collection opens with the stunning 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish', and sets the scene for the other eight stories, all of which ranged from good to very good. There was also a little bit of Scott Fitzgerald in there, just less on the love travails.

My faves were -

A Perfect Day for Bananafish
The Laughing Man
For Esme: with Love and Squalor

Video review

More varied than its most famous stories would lead you to believe, with enough silliness and crystalline sadness to balance the misery and grimy sadness. Even at a superficial read you can appreciate Salinger's influence on how Americans write, and think about plots.

This is my 3rd read of this short story collection. Anyone who knows me well knows that Salinger is my be all, end all. I have a complete and passionate bias. This collection of 9 short stories were written in the 5-10 years following WWII and most were originally published in the leading magazines of the day. They are a true time capsule of post-war life in the late-1940s, early-1950s, and you can't hardly read them without a cigarette in one hand and a highball in another. What is brilliant, absolutely brilliant about these stories. . . is that they are almost all dialogue. What you learn, quickly, about these intriguing characters. . . you learn almost exclusively through believable and intimate conversations. You are the fly on the wall.

Not being too fond of Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye – and having, in fact, a vivid recollection of me chucking it after about a 100 pages into a far-flung, dusty corner out of sheer tedium in high school (reading assignments are hemlock for stubborn minds) - I wasn’t particularly looking forward to his short story collection. Would it just be an assortment of variations on Holden Caulfield? I feared the worst.

Boy was I happy to be proven wrong. Talk about rising to low expectations, huh? How I wish now that the scholastic "authorities" had assigned us this instead of that boorish novel. In that case, I wouldn't have had to look up an online summary to pass my bloody test. In fact, I might have even been stupid enough to found a hipsterish J.D. Salinger worship cult. A missed opportunity, I tell ya!

These subtle tales are replete with memorable, flawed, authentic (non-irritating!) characters one can invest in. Clear highlights are A Perfect Day for Bananafish and especially the poignant, immensely moving For Esmé – With Love and Squalor, but they are all fine examples of quality writing. Not a dud in the bunch.

Turning the last page, it is hard not to feel a pang of sadness, of irretrievable loss. One wishes Salinger had foregone the infamous reclusiveness that beset his last 45 years and had written more of these. What masterpieces the world has missed out on as a result can only be guessed at.

I took 4 days to read this thin book, not because I didn't get enough time, but because all the nine stories had such an engrossing impact on me. Every time I finished reading a story, I'd HAVE to set the book aside and think about what just happened there. Every time it was like a big blow inside my head that'd block all other thoughts for some time, all but one.
I usually don't prefer short stories because I enjoy my reading mostly when I get a feeling that I know each and every character in and out, which obviously takes time. But Mr. Salinger! Such a genius he is, it's as if I remember all the characters from each story and will always do. Can't wait to read his other books.

Didnt enjoy any of the short stories and didnt enjoy getting to know the characters in any.
Seemed to have a theme of wealthy people in solitude in someway or another.

I've yet to read a Salinger story that wasn't written with a purpose in mind, a theme speaking quietly within the paragraphs, or loudly with an abrupt ending. It's rare that his exact intention is actually immediately clear to me, but the struggle adds interest, and I don't believe any could be said to have a single meaning anyway. If it meant this to me, it may mean that to another, and maybe we'd both be right.

This past summer, I read Franny and Zooey. My thought in saying this is that if I'd owned a copy of Nine Stories at the time, I would have read it first. Here's the thing: I now know reading Franny and Zooey was the better route for me in understanding the significance of the Glass Family to Salinger's catalog. If I'd read the short stories first, I'd probably have missed the meaning of their names and connections because they really do flash by in an instant. Two of these nine stories are obvious to them, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” (earliest Glass story by Salinger) most especially, and “Down at the Dinghy”. Another two stories are related as well, but I only understood this after researching after finishing. Reading these stories are like seeing marked events, and never understanding the whole. It is elusive. Even when not writing of this family, Salinger's stories touch on coming of age, loss of innocence, the effects of war, etc. Makes me think about not only those matters, but also Salinger himself and why he wrote.

If you know someone who hasn't read many short stories the chances are pretty good that he or she has read at least one of these "Nine Stories" by J.D. Salinger. Salinger becomes more and more interesting to me the older I get. At some point almost everyone has read "Catcher in the Rye" about Holden Caulfield's dream to save all children from growing up in a world of phonies. It's interesting to note how many of these stories have a child as an important, if not the most important, character in the story. Among my favorites, "For Esme-With Love and Squalor" features a precocious girl of thirteen whom the protagonist meets only once in his life - while serving in the military during World War II just before he has a nervous breakdown. And it is her rationality and generosity, despite having lost both parents herself, that touches him and sets him, perhaps, on the road to recovery. "The Laughing Man" is an enjoyable story showing the sensitivity and empathy of youth trying to understand and prepare for the heartbreaks of adulthood. And "Teddy" is a story my teacher of High School Sophomore English had his class read because he couldn't grasp the meaning of it and threw it open for discussion. And indeed, it shows a brilliant young almost Christlike boy baffling his elders with his wisdom that seems to straddle Christianity and Hinduism. Still ambiguous it nevertheless portrays the child as the one with the answers before adults spoil things by making them grow up.

If I were more put together, I’d have nine tiny one-sentence reviews for this and talk about each story, but I’m not, and so as is it’s a miracle that I have any notes on it at all and also am writing this less than three months after reading it.

I always know if I REALLY like a book that is of VERY high quality if it makes me miss being in literature classes. This one, for example, made me desperately wish I were in one so I could debate “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes” for at LEAST one million years.

But alas, I am a genius and therefore no longer in college.

Plus I don’t think I ever would have read this in any class anyway.

Some of these stories didn’t work for me but I REALLY liked some of them, as indicated above. Salinger writes so gorgeously, and there are some truly lovely characters here - Esmé and Charles, Teddy, the Glass family.

It is a very small book of very small stories that I liked very much.

Bottom line: What I just said!

---------

earlier, i stated that i am J.D. Salinger trash.

this statement is confirmed.

review to come / 4 stars

I kicked this one off with some trepidation since Holden Caulfield might very well be my least favorite character in all of literature. It was nice to find that this is a very good collection of short stories. These were all written in the late forties and early fifties, so it is not surprising that most involve characters that are dealing with what we now call PTSD. A lot of reviewers have already touched on Salinger's writing style so I will add nothing more other than to repeat that yes, the man loved his adverbs. 'For Esme - With Love and Squalor' and 'De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period' were the best of the bunch by a significant margin. Most of these stories were in the three star range for me, but those two bump this collection up to a low four. Much better than 'Catcher in the Rye'.

سلینجر چه داستان‌های خوبی نوشته. ازون‌ها که بعد تموم‌شدنشون لبخند ریزی رو لبتون می‌شینه. خیلی داستان‌های نرمی بودن. ازین جهت می‌گم که نقش بچه‌ها توی داستان‌ خیلی پررنگ بود و خوب توصیف‌ شده بودند. دقت سلینجر هم توی توصیف جزئیات مثال‌زدنی بود.
کتاب هم شامل نُه داستانِ
یه روز عالی برای موزماهی، عمو ویگیلی در کانتیکات، در آستانه جنگ با اسکیموها، مرد خندان، در قایق بادبانی، تقدیم به ازمی با عشق و نکبت، دهانم زیبا چشمانم سبز، دوره‌ی آبی دودومیه اسمیت و تدی می‌شه که همشون رو غیر دوره آبی دوست داشتم.
در ضمن شنیدم که آقای گلشیری هم این کتاب سلینجر رو ترجمه کرده ولی ترجمه‌اش خوب نیست. حتی اسم کتاب و عنوان داستان دوره‌ی آبی دودومیه اسمیت رو به دلخواه خودش تغییر داده و گذاشته دلتنگی‌های نقاش خیابان چهل‌ و هشتم!
راستی حتما تصویرگری‌های sempè روی جلد مجله نیویورکر یا کاریکاتور‌های دیگه‌اش رو نگاهی بندازین. بانمک و ظریف و دوست‌داشتنی‌اند. ناخودآگاه با خوندن داستان های سلینجر توی ذهنم نقش می‌بستند.