Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

With the end of January quickly approaching, I decided to tackle another book from my Back to the Classics Challenge list. For some reason, Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger was calling to me, so I decided to give it a shot. This book is also on my Classics Club list, so it's another opportunity for me to make more progress on that. I hadn't read any Salinger since I was assigned Catcher in the Rye back in high school. I liked that novel back then, so I went into reading Franny and Zooey with high hopes.

This book is split up into two sections, a short story called "Franny" and a novella called Zooey. Franny and Zooey are siblings in the Glass family, a fictional group consisting of a mother, father, and seven children. Salinger used these characters in some of his other stories as well, but this was my first introduction to the Glass brood. As it turns out, they are quite the quirky bunch.

"Franny" comes first in the collection. At the beginning of the short story, Franny Glass, an undergraduate college student, has traveled to see her boyfriend Lane at Yale University. As soon as she gets off the train, it is clear that something is wrong. She seems to be annoyed with nearly everything Lane says, doesn't eat the food she orders when they stop at a restaurant, and appears pale and sweaty. She eventually reveals that she's feeling extremely dissatisfied with what she sees as a lack of authenticity in the people and places around her. She's having an existential crisis and doesn't see much point in pursuing the academic and career goals she once had.

She also reveals that she's been coping with these feelings by turning to a religious book that instructs readers to "pray constantly" in order to attain spiritual enlightenment. She's been repeating a short prayer under her breath and in her head over and over in an attempt to reach this enlightened state. As her afternoon date wears on, she eventually faints and Lane takes her to a room to rest.

Zooey picks up soon after this incident. Franny has returned to her family home and set up camp on the couch. Her mother is hovering over her, trying to coax her back into being her normal self, but she isn't meeting with any success. Eventually, Zooey, Franny's elder brother, is enlisted to try and talk her out of her depression. The rest of the novella centers around his attempts to help. Zooey's tactics range from harshly calling out her behavior as selfish, to a much gentler phone call in which he conveys more optimistic ideas about religion and life goals.

This is a very short novel, and not much actually happens in it, but it is still somehow a brilliant read. Salinger's writing is clever and funny, and his characterizations of Franny and Zooey are excellent. The Glass family is pretentious, arrogant, and way too smart for their own good, but they also know this about themselves, try to temper it, and love each other in the meantime. A story full of arguments, depression, religious mania, and existential crises sounds like it would be quite heavy, but Franny and Zooey is actually rather heartwarming. It's a quick read too; it only took me a few hours to finish it. 

As I'm not religious myself, I don't always enjoy books with religious themes. For this one, however, it didn't bother me. The novel portrays a rather nice interpretation of religion by the end, isn't remotely preachy, and includes ideas from several different religious texts throughout. Salinger stresses the idea that doing your best, even when no one is watching or cares, is ultimately worth it, which is a message that resonates especially loudly with me.

Overall, I thought Franny and Zooey was a charming, clever, and engaging read. Salinger's writing was impressive and the characters were very unique. It was most definitely worth the little chunk of time it took to read. It's nice to discover a classic that feels meaningful, is easy to understand, and doesn't take ages to get through. I would like to check out more of Salinger's work in the future, and I should probably reread Catcher in the Rye as well. It's been too long! 


Challenge Tally
Back to the Classics 2019 (a classic novella): 2/12 Books Read
Classics Club (#89 on my list): 37/100 

Total Books Read in 2019: 8