Salinger offers insight into dysfunctional family in ‘Franny and Zooey’
By Tony Margherio
IV Leader Staff
A week without World of Warcraft (my digital home away from home) due to some password thief left me squandering for some alternate form of entertainment; no movies looked all that enticing, and television seems to be worsening by the week. I was left with one option: books.
I'd almost forgotten they existed... which would serve to explain why I've been so behind with my reading. (I've been on “The Fountainhead” since January!) Well, I didn't feel like reading “The Fountainhead,” so I decided to take a walk to the Spring Valley library. Score! A book sale.
I looked through the racks and noticed a familiar book: “Franny and Zooey” by J.D. Salinger. I loved “Catcher in the Rye” by Salinger, and I'd heard good things about “Franny and Zooey,” so I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. The book, while not as funny throughout as “Catcher in the Rye,” is just as good and much more moving. It tells the story of a fictionalized version of Salinger's dysfunctional family with the two youngest, Franny and Zooey, as the focus.
In the story, Franny is having a nervous breakdown; she refuses to finish her last year in college. She's fed up with the egos people display and their superficiality. In an attempt to fix everything, Franny has resorted to mumbling a prayer incessantly and lying on her mother's couch for days on end. Franny and her older brother Zooey hash out the causes of this breakdown, examining the effects of their upbringing and a myriad of other topics ranging from simple psychology to some rather interesting sounding theology.
Obviously, the subject matter the book offers is broad enough to attract a varied audience. I was a sucker for the theology and the drama that surrounded it, myself. Trust me, it's much more entertaining to read the book than to hear me describe it.
And don't worry, it's not all serious discussion and academic discourse. Franny and Zooey speak like any brother and sister would. Zooey's an incredibly flippant and witty character whom I'm sure you will love, and his seemingly endless conversation with his mother in their bathroom had me laughing to the point of tears.
I'd recommend the book to anyone who enjoyed “Catcher in the Rye.” And if you haven't read “Franny and Zooey” or “Catcher in the Rye,” what are you waiting for?! Salinger is far too skilled and entertaining a writer to ignore. Check him out!