Rating: 
Summary: I like Salinger, but this isn't one of his best...
Review: This is a book about a brother and a sister. They both have problems in life, and it's just a story about a few days in their lives. It was kind of weird, and didn't really seem to have a point, and just about everyone in the book smoked, and it makes you want to start smoking or something...idk...it was just odd. I wouldn't really recommend this book to many people, because it was pretty dull.
Rating: 
Summary: simply awful
Review: That adolescents might enjoy Salinger is excusable; his work touches the same chords of narcissism, self-pity, and self-regarding idealism as those other classics of pubescent angst--Siddhartha, Atlas Shrugged, and so forth. But beware, my young friends, if you're over the age of, say, 21 and you can still read this stuff without boredom or nausea you're either an imbecile or a sociopath.
Rating: 
Summary: a true masterpiece that you want to read again and again...
Review: I guess I would have to have to dub Franny and Zooey as one of my boredom reads. At the time that I read it, I was pretty much bored out of my mind and I couldn't find anything better to read. However, after I begun reading I simply could not put it down. To be completely honest, it's not really an action packed page turner. But at the time it was a complete carbon copy of my life. I'm the type of person who is a complete drama queen(or I used to be anyway). I would blow the smallest little set back completely out of proportion, and then end up saying and doing things I regreted. All in all, I became a person that I did not want to be or know. So then it wasn't very surprising when I started cutting and was diagnosed with depression. After reading into the book a bit, I realized how [messed] up my life had become. I felt exactly the way Franny felt. Like her, I just wanted to sleep forever. But, as I continued to read and see Zooey's perspective on Franny's nervous breakdown, I began to think about everything I was doing and had done in the past. And I relized how wrong I was. I felt like I had no right to feel the way I did. And the reality of it was that I didn't at all. Toward the end I realized that my illness and my overall perspective on everything was causing me to be completely stagnant. My realization that my life was completely [messed]up prompted me to reevaluate my life and actually do something. Franny is a person that we all feel like sometimes. And Zooey is the brother that we wish we had to keep us going. No matter who you are and what your problem is, I think you will more than likely absolutly love this book. Sorry if I sound a bit psychotic, I'm really not. And sorry that I didn't include much information about the book. I hope you will read and enjoy this book. love always, nostalgia
Rating:
Summary: Read it.
Review: A great, great book, showcasing the Salinger voice that everyone loved when they read Catcher in the Rye. Perhaps the narrative of this book isn't as fabulous as Catcher in the Rye's, but I found it to be more meaningful in a number of ways. It was personal - I felt like Salinger had let me in on something, and there were some interesting concepts and constructions within the writing. Definately a must read book.
Rating:
Summary: questions answered
Review: "Franny and Zooey" is a fantastic book. Brillintly sculpted, carefully thought-out, profoundly insigtful, and deeply spiritual, it is a prime example of what literature can be when at it's best. "Franny and Zooey" answers the questions J.D. Salinger presents in "Catcher in the Rye" without contradicting "Catcher..."'s basic message. Holden Caufield's critique of modern society and it's effect on and manifestations in humanity are, in many ways, affirmed in these two tales. Franny, an intellingent, thoughtful, young, college student, echoes Holden's complaints in her extended conversation with her brother. However, while in "Catcher..." Salinger merely presents a problem, in "F&Z" he, through Zooey, provides real, profound answers. What drives both parts of this story are the characters. The intoxicating Glass family, whom the author so memorably fills out in much of his other work, provide the perfect family setting for a discussion, not just of society's problem, but of the characters' own demons. Salinger relies heavily on his charcters' personalities to sustain both the intense dialoge and the personal story lines. In the end, Salinger needs the intimacy his characterization provides. It allows for an enormously powerful and effective delivery of a message that lends itself to sounding preachy. The story presents a number of themes, ranging from the conflict between spirituality and everyday, bread and water existance, finding one's place in society, to understanding and appreciating family. However, the theme which seems to be closest to the story, and which seems to be most important for Salinger, is that of acceptance of one's surrounding and the need for making each act a sacrifice to something greater. Franny's complaints about her professers and the audience and everything else while she's at it are not disputed. Everything else isn't the point. The point is that she must make her life, her every act, a continual sacrifice to something beyond her. In this way, not by rejecting everything and selfishly, egotistically removing herself from society, holing up in her own private inner sanctuary. By making this particular point, Salinger responds to the questions that arise out of the world view he presents. He gives permission to contribute to and participate in the society he indicts by taking the focus off the society and placing it on the greater purpose. In this engaging and entertaining read, Salinger presents the reader not only with an extrodinary cast of charcters, but a healthy, effective solution for all those who are really dissalussioned youth at heart.
Rating:
Summary: Salinger ties it together
Review: Having read all three of Salinger's published books, I was eager to see what he had to say in his other major piece on the Glass family. Besides indulging us in this unusual collection of characters, Salinger provides his answers to some of the most perplexing problems in his others stories, including 'catcher in the rye.' We all remember Holden's difficulty dealing with all the phony people in society as well as the death of his brother Allie. In this novel, Zooey guides Franny as she uncovers unsettling truths about phony people, and ultimately gives her some reassurance that meditation and reflection on mythical figures can answer these anxieties. Anyone who has read this book might also want to read 'Raise High the Roofbeams Carpenters; and Seymour, an Introduction' to learn more about Seymouor, who plays such a vital role in 'F&Z' despite the fact he isn't in it. Moreover, 'F&Z' gives some hints as to how Seymour met his mysterious fate. All this being said, you can see how there is so much to get out of this novel. If it weren't for the fact that I read 'Catcher' when I was young, this novel woudl have undoubtedly become my favorite Salinger piece.
Rating: 
Summary: Look past the religion
Review: Although there is very little plot in the story, there is such a phenomenal amount of character and insight that the story is not dull. The story revolves around the relationship of a family of brothers and sisters in New York, though it mainly focuses on the two youngest siblings. The girl, Franny, is going through an emotional breakdown, and her mother enlists the help of her slightly older brother, Zooey. The novel is very Salinger and the dialogue is fantastic, but the core of Franny's troubles lie in her religious discontent. Being nonreligious, this could have spoiled the book for me if Salinger did not work such an intricate relation between the brother and sister. The book is not preaching, but would have been better without the religious aspects. Although the aspect Salinger does touch upon is an interesting one. Overall, it is a beautiful story, filled with the angst of a young girl, her relationship with her family, and her problems with society, a popular theme in Salinger's books. If you do not focus on the religious dilemna's, the beauty of the inner story can be seen. For those who are deeply religious, I can only say that it will probably be helpful in clarifying any issues you have within yourself.
Rating:
Summary: The Meaning of it All
Review: If you read 'Catcher in the Rye' and enjoyed it, you will probably find some of the themes familiar here in this fine but less well-known work. There are two chapters, the first short chapter serves to set the scene and introduce the second. Two Ivy League students meet for a date. The young man is an insensitive intellectual jock. He wants an audience for his loud intellectual pretensions and to have sex, simultaneously if possible. Franny, the young woman, a highly sensitive person, is struggling at college and having a spiritual crisis. She wants to be herself, have integrity, wonders why people play so many games and act out so many unauthentic roles. She wants to feel accepted, and to know the meaning of life. She is still young enough to be able think about life's big questions and feel the pain of having no answers. In chapter two Franny has returned home to recover her equilibrium, and Zooey her older brother, who is an actor, is in the bath reading a script. Their mother, a remarkable character in her own right, is worried. And rightly so. She thinks Zooey ought to talk to his sister to help her. He proceeds to do so in his own particular and unique way. The characters are all wonderfully described, the jock, the mother, Franny and Zooey. The whole 'action' revolves around the dialogue, mostly verbal fencing, but this is no mere novel of manners. Franny, the mixed up kid, is trying to sort it all out with the aid of a little book 'The Way of a Pilgrim', which is the real-life autobiography of an anonymous Russian beggar in the 1850's, and a spiritual classic in the Christian Eastern Orthodox tradition. The central theme is 'The Jesus Prayer', which a personal meditative prayer. Zooey tries to explain it all to her, but as I have read Pilgrim myself I can tell you he makes a complete fist of it, he mixes it all up with Buddhism and Hinduism. Whether or not he helps, hinders, or does as much harm as good towards her recovery I'll let you read for yourself, it's well worth the effort. I found this book to be a good read, the characters are so real, I felt like I would know them if I met them, but all in all this is not a life-changing work. If you want that, try the 'The Way of a Pilgrim', preferably in the translation by French, which has a few helpful notes. That gets really deep, and really does have the power to change people.
Rating:
Summary: Amen!
Review: So. I'm a little frustrated. I am a kid (I'm sixteen; there's no way I'm going to call myself a woman) who's pretty serious about religion. My problem? Every kid I meet who supposedly is serious about religion A. is Protestant (I'm Catholic); B. uses the word "just" (as in "I just want to thank you for just being so great" etc.) at least 50 times in any public prayer; C. wants to make God fun; or D. all of the above. I was beginning to think that no one thought the way I did. but then -- bada bing! -- I picked up "Franny and Zooey." I had read "Catcher in the Rye" and liked it, so when I needed a read, I picked up the next Salinger that caught my eye. What did I find? An honest talk about God, as well as some kids who aren't facsimiles of every other John or Jane Doe from Anytown, USA. These kids are intelligent. They do not instantly swallow whatever is given to them. They question, they ruminate, they THINK until they know what they believe. And they are still messed up, but they know it and accept it. They are what I aspire to. Not to accept nothing, but to realize what I accept when I make choices about who I am, which, unless I am mistaken, means what I think is true. "Franny and Zooey" gives me something to think about, and for that, I applaud Mr. Salinger, and give him my gratitude.
Rating:
Summary: A beautifully written tale
Review: Salinger is in great form here as he tells us the story of a brother and sister in Manhattan. He is funny, touching, astoundingly talented, and creates living and breathing characters out of paper and ink. It is difficult to resist being drawn into the apartment of the Glass family and not become involved in Franny's crisis of spirit. One of the best written books of the 20th century - and one that stays with many a reader long after the book is closed.
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