Scan barcode
A review by wendleness
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters; Seymour - an Introduction by J.D. Salinger
3.0
Two reviews for the price of one.
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, i loved. I loved it for all the same reasons i loved Catcher in the Rye. The narrative voice is real, and flawed, and distracted by insignificant details. But really, the tiny deaf mute in a top hat, and his fleeting, unspoken but intense friendship with the narrator made the entire story for me. "An instant later, a silk hat materialised in the air beside me, considerably down and to the left, and my special, only technically unassigned cohort grinned up at me - for a moment, I rather thought he was going to slip his hand into mine."
Seymour: an Introduction, was much more hard work. The narrator himself warns: "I'm here to advise that no only will my asides run rampant from this point on (I'm not sure, in fact, that there won't be a foot note or two) but I fully intend from time to time, to jump up personally on the reader's back when I see something off the beaten plot line that looks exciting or interesting and worth steering towards. Speed, here, God save my American hide, means nothing whatever to me." Before offering the reader a convenient get-out-while-you-still-can moment. And part of me wishes i'd taken that opportunity. This story had no story. His spends about 15 pages describing Seymour's face. His asides are not exciting or interesting. And the whole story has no plot. The title is decidedly succinct and accurate, however.
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, i loved. I loved it for all the same reasons i loved Catcher in the Rye. The narrative voice is real, and flawed, and distracted by insignificant details. But really, the tiny deaf mute in a top hat, and his fleeting, unspoken but intense friendship with the narrator made the entire story for me. "An instant later, a silk hat materialised in the air beside me, considerably down and to the left, and my special, only technically unassigned cohort grinned up at me - for a moment, I rather thought he was going to slip his hand into mine."
Seymour: an Introduction, was much more hard work. The narrator himself warns: "I'm here to advise that no only will my asides run rampant from this point on (I'm not sure, in fact, that there won't be a foot note or two) but I fully intend from time to time, to jump up personally on the reader's back when I see something off the beaten plot line that looks exciting or interesting and worth steering towards. Speed, here, God save my American hide, means nothing whatever to me." Before offering the reader a convenient get-out-while-you-still-can moment. And part of me wishes i'd taken that opportunity. This story had no story. His spends about 15 pages describing Seymour's face. His asides are not exciting or interesting. And the whole story has no plot. The title is decidedly succinct and accurate, however.