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The war hangs over these wry stories of loss and occasionally unsuppressed rage. Salinger's children are fragile, odd, hypersmart, whereas his grown-ups (even the materially content) seem beaten down by circumstances--some neurasthenic, others (often female) deeply unsympathetic. The greatest piece in this disturbing book may be "The Laughing Man," which starts out as a man's recollection of the pleasures of storytelling and ends with the intersection between adult need and childish innocence. The narrator remembers how, at nine, he and his fellow Comanches would be picked up each afternoon by the Chief--a Staten Island law student paid to keep them busy. At the end of each day, the Chief winds them down with the saga of a hideously deformed, gentle, world-class criminal. With his stalwart companions, which include "a glib timber wolf" and "a lovable dwarf," the Laughing Man regularly crosses the Paris-China border in order to avoid capture by "the internationally famous detective" Marcel Dufarge and his daughter, "an exquisite girl, though something of a transvestite." The masked hero's luck comes to an end on the same day that things go awry between the Chief and his girlfriend, hardly a coincidence. "A few minutes later, when I stepped out of the Chief's bus, the first thing I chanced to see was a piece of red tissue paper flapping in the wind against the base of a lamppost. It looked like someone's poppy-petal mask. I arrived home with my teeth chattering uncontrollably and was told to go straight to bed."
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Minor but still worth the trip,
By
This review is from: Nine Stories (School & Library Binding)
Nine Stories has all the undertones of that classic Salinger off-beat, retro stamp and it is often overshadowed by Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey despite being a small masterpiece in its own right, but I was apprehensive about picking up the short story collection all the same. It is rather silly to hold on to a writer's more established and acclaimed work and not venture out to slightly unchartered territory specially when this reader realized that it was not quite unchartered territory for her after all.Moreover, it feels strange to revisit Salinger's unique world not merely because his eclectic turns of phrases and marginalized characters make the reader yearn for the yesteryear and a world gone by, but it is also an odd contrast to modern literature and life. Salinger's oddball, somewhat hostile, and always beautifully vulnerable gang struggling in a pedantic and square world have an immense cultural significance. Indeed, the Rockwellian undertones of Salinger's pen feels slightly uncomfortable to today's discerning viewer. In this day and age, intimate friendships and conversations between precocious children and adult men are seen as unnatural if not immediate cause for alarm which is a poor, poor reflection of our society and its crumbling mores. Salinger understands and treats young adults with dignity and serious aplomb which is quite bittersweet and worth revisiting if only to reclaim our own displaced sense of wonder and childlike innocence.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A page-turner,
By Piervy Sto (Derby, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Nine Stories (Mass Market Paperback)
Nine Stories kept me turning pages all night through. It is an enjoyable collection to read. Salinger emerged as witty, penetrating, humurous and very knowing. He is a fresh breath of to short story writing.Short stories by Chekhov, The Usurper and Other Stories, Runaway,Union Moujik stand on my shelves as fine and hilarious short story collections to read
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favourite story is in this,
By "superkhy" (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Nine Stories (Mass Market Paperback)
As with any collection of short stories, the quality will vary, so there's really no point in pointing that out (although I think I just did?).Anyways, if you're a fan of J.D. Salinger's other works, and not just 'Catcher in the Rye', you'll probably love this. All the characters introduced in these stories are very Salinger, in their great intelligence and wit. I would get this book just for the stories "Teddy" (which is my personal favourite story ever) and "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes". Damned beautiful works.
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