I really did not like The Catcher in the Rye for reasons that are now lost in the mists of personal antiquity, so it was a tremendous and pleasant surprise to discover how strong these nine stories are, all dating from the late 40s and early 50s. I haven't been able to work out exactly why I like them - there's just something about that that compels, something in the odd structures and unusual sentence rhythms and voices that run through them.
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and "For Esme - With Love and Squalor" (both involving a returned soldier's interaction with a child, but to very different results) are the two that best combine substance and style, and "Just Before the War with the Eskimos" has also lingered (it's taken me several weeks to work through the stories, interspersed with other reading). There are a few that are maybe just a bit too cute in their design; "Down at the Dinghy" is one of these but works anyway with its opening set-up and ending reveal (partly because Boo Boo is such a lively character), but "The Laughing Man" and "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" (despite its double twist in relation to the grey-haired man and Joanie) don't. And there is also the art-pastiche "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" which has plenty of fun with its resolutely self-absorbed precocious teen narrator.
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and "For Esme - With Love and Squalor" (both involving a returned soldier's interaction with a child, but to very different results) are the two that best combine substance and style, and "Just Before the War with the Eskimos" has also lingered (it's taken me several weeks to work through the stories, interspersed with other reading). There are a few that are maybe just a bit too cute in their design; "Down at the Dinghy" is one of these but works anyway with its opening set-up and ending reveal (partly because Boo Boo is such a lively character), but "The Laughing Man" and "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" (despite its double twist in relation to the grey-haired man and Joanie) don't. And there is also the art-pastiche "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" which has plenty of fun with its resolutely self-absorbed precocious teen narrator.
