Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger response

NOTE: It has recently come to my knowledge that this response is a
bit black and white in the way that I thought of Zooey to highly.
Maybe it was related to the fact that I didn’t get into the book, so
I didn’t understand it all to much, or the details to be specific. So
don’t take my response to seriously, or whatever, I’m sure if you’ve
read the book, you’ve developed your own opinion.

Franny and Zooey is a lesser known novel by the author of the famed
book: Catcher in the Rye. It’s one of the odder books I’ve read, I
never really got into the book as I would when I read a book such as
Harry Potter, but it was enjoyable in a different way.

Franny has gotten herself pretty screwed up. Her brother; Zooey sees
the need to talk to her, to try and fix her up a bit as a good friend
does. A lot of the book is a conversation between the two, which is
another reason why this book is different from most. It’s not so much
focused on a big plot and adventure, but a rather simple set of
events that are drawn out quite fully.

One of the main themes throughout the book is mentorship and
ultimately being a good friend. The reason I’m writing about this
theme is because it’s such a universal one, since we all need
mentoring from time to time. I thought of the term “prophetic
goodness” while thinking about the book. Zooey is being a good friend
by helping dig Franny out of this hole she’s dug, but it’s hard for
her, as something is when you’re being told you’re wrong. It’s rather
superb when the human race can work together and help eachother in an
understanding way. We all need mentoring, and a book focusing on it
may help us to observe the process and be open to it in the real
world! I think we all have had some form of mentorship in our lives.

I can relate to both Franny and Zooey. Franny is in breakdown mode,
for which the reasons are rather interesting. She’s fed up with the
overwhelming superficiality within our world, so instead of trying to
find out why, she finds this technique. It consists of saying the
“Jesus Prayer” over and over again to find meaning and open herself
up to God, while in fact, doing the exact opposite.. Unconsciously,
she’s scared of the superficiality within her, but of course blames
it on the outside world, and uses her prayer to deal with it. I’m
sure we can all relate to this feeling of being angry at a large
demographic, even if the anger originates from within us. I for one
strongly agree with that argument, even if I, myself wrote it.

Zooey is very put together, and has a sharp edge to him, but his
motives are good and loving. He’s very wise, even in the wake of a
weird family and his heart is in the right place, which is how he
manages to mentor Franny. I can relate to Zooey when I’m trying to
help out my friends (a nine moving to a three in ennagramic style),
that is when I’m in a more centered state.

I enjoyed JD Salinger’s writing style. He’s very intelligent and
stresses out details of a situation. For instance, I can distinctly
remember how descriptive he was with even enormously small objects as
cigarettes. He spends plenty of time describing where they are,
what’s happening to them and who’s using them. The text in the book
is also pretty dense, which makes it hard to read. That just means it
requires more patience, which is always a good thing to practice
upon. I definitely didn’t pick up on a lot of it, so there’s tons in
there to discover.

All in all, I recommend this book to you. It’s not the kind of book
that you can enjoy in small spurts, but rather requires you to sit
down for an extended period of time and apply yourself, consciously
focusing your energy on it. It’s a worthwhile experience though,
since it’s a window into a different time, stresses out a great theme
and is written by an interesting person.

- joel christopher penner