# JD Salinger RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789 "2010-01-28T18:06:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/81 "2010-01-29T16:01:46Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > 1. From Here to Eternity, James Joyce James Jones. I haven’t read this book, but the post really threw me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/82 "2010-01-29T16:35:21Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > James Jones. I haven’t read this book, but the post really threw me. 😉 If you haven’t read Joyce’s _From Here to Eternity_ you’ve missed the oustanding literary sensation of the century, yes and your heart will be going like mad and yes I said yes you will Yes. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/83 "2010-01-29T16:40:39Z")
They’re selling way more of the bestselling books, but I think they’re also selling somewhat more of the higher-brow books. The main thing is that most books really aren’t supposed to be or expected to be bestsellers, those few that are help keep the industry afloat and make it possible to publish literary fare. I don’t really get upset about the quality of bestsellers because who knows where I’d be if Random House wasn’t making hand-over-fist dollars from a few low brow bestsellers. Also, despite all the despair about how few people read and/or buy books, I think people who don’t read much are the ones who are buying up the Browns and Pattersons. It’s not like they’d be reading Proust if there was not Patterson. They wouldn’t read at all. And yes, I do know there’s not a thick black line that marks the difference between “good book” and “bad book.” As a children’s book writer, I would put Rowling among the best of her era, in addition to being the bestselling of her era. Before she was big bidness, she had nothing but critical accolades. Her later books dropped off a bit in editing-phase quality and there was also backlash to where now she’s easily dismissed as another bestseller/hack, but I think she’s better than that description. A lot better. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/84 "2010-01-29T18:49:18Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > [Bunch Of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger](http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bunch_of_phonies_mourn_j_d) Damn, ya beat me to it. _The Catcher in the Rye_ is one of my favorite books ever. I think it’s hysterical, for exactly the reasons **Equipoise** articulated. I also do find it personally meaningful, because it’s about a kid coming to terms with all that isn’t right with the world. We all have to do that at some point. I love the whole universe, all the characters, and Holden’s smart-ass observations. If he were alive today, he’d be wearing [this shirt](http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Team-Area-Superior-Your/dp/B001BA8RH6). I like Salinger’s other stuff too, so I do hope he’s got some good shit hidden away in his vault somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/85 "2010-01-30T02:21:41Z")
I love _Esme_ and _Laughing Man_ and several more of the 9 stories. _Banana Fish_ annoyed me (the ending felt… phoney.) And I’d like to plug \*Raise High the Roof Beams: \* A woman is stood up at the alter. After the non-wedding, the brother of the absent groom is in a limo with several guests, including the maid of honor (I think) and limo is stuck in traffic. The other riders don’t know who he is, and are lambasting his brother… who did, indeed, commit an abominable social sin. The narrator knows his brother’s faults but also believes his brother is possibly the finest person in the world. It’s an emotionally loaded setup, and Salinger steps through it with perfect grace and good humor. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/86 "2010-01-30T02:24:44Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > I love _Esme_ and _Laughing Man_ and several more of the 9 stories. _Banana Fish_ annoyed me (the ending felt… phoney.) So it’s not only me. Everybody’s been praising it the last few days as their favorite, and I felt like the ending was something you’d see in a writing class. It ends with a suicide. I hate suicide endings. They feel cheap to me. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/87 "2010-01-30T03:14:38Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > So it’s not only me. Everybody’s been praising it the last few days as their favorite, and I felt like the ending was something you’d see in a writing class. > > It ends with a suicide. I hate suicide endings. They feel cheap to me. Ah, but _Bananafish_ is the beginning of the story of the Glass family, so think of the ending as the end of Chapter 1… ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/88 "2010-01-30T03:20:22Z")
Got it. Maybe one day I’ll read all that stuff again. I read bits and pieces of it way back when, but the only ones I remember with any clarity are Nine Stories and Catcher. Also some of his Buffy fan fic, which he just emailed to me privately. His Angel fan fic was total shit, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/89 "2010-01-30T04:08:42Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > Ah, but _Bananafish_ is the beginning of the story of the Glass family, so think of the ending as the end of Chapter 1… My memory is that Buddy Glass renounces _Bananafish_ in a later novelette. He bemoans his inadequacy as a writer and makes the point that Seymour killed himself because he was just too overwhelmed with joy and wonderment to continue with life. …and I’ll firmly contend that one can’t get that interpretation out of _Bananafish_ as written. And, my interpretation is that Salinger as Buddy Glass is saying that _Bananafish_ doesn’t really fit with the later written adventures of Seymour Glass. I also think that the spoilered story line would have made a better story. Probably. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/90 "2010-01-30T04:16:25Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > A friend just told me Salinger was a vehement racist (incredibly anti-semitic, according to her). Anybody know anything about this? I’d never heard anything about his personal beliefs. I thought Salinger was a Joo? ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/91 "2010-01-30T04:37:45Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I thought Salinger was a Joo? If there’s some humor to be had in spelling it like a LOL cat, it eludes me. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/92 "2010-01-30T04:42:06Z")
I was under the impression that Salinger was of the Hebraic persuasion. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/93 "2010-01-30T06:40:35Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Salinger vehemently believed that the book was unfilmable and that, in particular, the character of Holden Caulfield was “unactable.” > > So much of the book is that narrative voice of Caulfield, that doing a third person narrative would lose too much (or have to be done practically all in voiceover), and nobody could really play Caulfield anyway. He’s too internal. That wouldn’t stop Cameron from making a 3D version of it. The na’vi can be the children, the field of rye can be the tree of souls, and Sully can fly them to safety on his giant bird. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/94 "2010-01-30T06:58:43Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > If there’s some humor to be had in spelling it like a LOL cat, it eludes me. I believe it’s a South Park reference. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/95 "2010-01-30T10:02:16Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > You’re about as sensitive as a goddamn toilet seat. 😉 Stop pretending to care whether toilet seats like your hairy ass. Somebody gave me Catcher when I was a Junior in college. I got about as far as the pimp thumping him in the balls. I hated Holden. A self absorbed misanthropic asshole. I got enough of that living alone. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789/96 "2010-01-30T13:59:59Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > What if he’s got a vault, all right, but it turns out to be stacks and stacks of BVS fan fiction? Oh man, that would be so awesome. Even awesomer would be if they also uncovered a trove of Star Trek/Holden Caulfield crossover slash-fiction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jd-salinger-rip/526789.md?page=4)