J. D. Salinger: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations (The Last Interview Series)

Loved it. A step back in time

This book revealed almost nothing new about Salinger. (The supposed "last interview" is the transcript of a legal deposition, and sets a new standard for biographical barrel scrapings. There's very little of interest to be found in it.)No, the value of this book rests in its implicit interrogation of Salinger's more obsessive fans. Motivated by a strange combination of entitlement and self-pity, they attempted to make uninvited visits to his remote New Hampshire home. It's as if they expected Salinger to act as a sort of vending machine, coughing up Zen wisdom on demand.Also, I was disappointed by the typos (and other errors) that popped up sporadically throughout the book. Some of these were quite jarring (I'm looking at you, page 80 and 145). Others are less jarring, but still annoying. This is the second Melville House book I've read. The first was André Schiffrin's A POLITICAL EDUCATION. Unfortunately, it suffered from many typos as well.Obviously, the folks at Melville House have published books worth reading. (The Schiffrin book, in particular, was impressive.) But I wish they would spend a bit more time getting the production issues right. Between the errors, the reprinted articles by Salinger-stalkers, and the heavy padding of the deposition, the book comes across as a quickly slapped together rush job. Maybe it wasn't, but that's how it looks.

Fight me

Not genuine copy