I read Nine Stories and The Catcher in the Rye when I was fourteen or so and I remember finding them wonderful and incredibly meaningful to me at the time. I re-read Catcher a few years ago and didn't feel that connection to Holden anymore - in fact I was annoyed by him. Salinger's death induced me to pick up Franny and Zooey, which has been sitting on my bookcase for more than a decade. I was completely surprised by how much I liked it. It's beautiful. Franny is in the midst of (perhaps a more severe version of) that breakdown that we all had in college, questioning herself and the universe itself. Zooey talks to her about life and meaning and ... anything else I say will spoil it. Salinger's writing doesn't always connect with the reader - I truly believe that you have to read Catcher at just the right age to get it - but when it does, it's just lovely. I'm so glad I read this now, when I was able to connect with Franny and Zooey, instead of when I was fourteen, when I would have thought I understood them but I really wouldn't have.
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