Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction

A late set of novellas by JD Salinger, both concerning Buddy, of the Glass family and chronicling the misadventures of his brother Seymour. While "Raise High the Roof Beam" is a conventional, and pretty stiff, novella about Seymour's failure to show at his wedding, the Seymour story is a remarkable piece of essayistic prose that defies many of Salinger's expectations. Pillorying academics and his own critics, the story is an extraordinary, if esoteric piece.

I'm going to give this book only three stars because I think "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" is a great story, but "Seymour: An Introduction" is agony to read. "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" is written in a conventional style of a novella. It's an interesting story told by Buddy Glass about how his brother Seymour Glass did not show up at his wedding. Buddy ends up entertaining some of the wedding guests at the apartment that Buddy and Seymour share. John Updike considered this story as the best of the stories written about the Glass family, and I agree, but I also liked "Franny" and "Zooey." I would give "Seymour: An Introduction" no stars. It was hard to read this novella. It was basically a rambling lecture written by Buddy about his brother Seymour. It is infamous for its digressions. It was one of the last stories Salinger ever published. Eberhard Alsen (2002) writes "'Seymour-An Introduction' received more negative reviews than any of Salinger's previous work." If you are a Salinger scholar, these two stories express important themes in Salinger's writing. But if you plan to feel entertained, you will be disappointed when you read "Seymour: An Introduction."

I actually bought another copy off the shelves before this one arrived because I was too impatient, and have since sent this one off anonymously to a friend who love reading.I think you will need to like the Glass Family to read either of these stories, like, really like them, even though a lot of them are problematic and unlikeable. I liked Seymour in particular, and I adore Buddy's love for Seymour as a brother, so these two stories really reached out to me and gave me the closure I needed since Seymour's death in Bananafish.Of the two, the better written story is no doubt Raise High, but the more personal one, the one I connected with, was Seymour: An Introduction.Seeing that I sent my extra copy off to a friend, you can bet I would recommend this to people!

J. D. Salinger’s stream of consciousness writing is like being at a circus; many wonderful things happening rapidly at once, but worth watching one at a time. His characters make you long to meet them, know more about them, never let them go.

Firstly, to understand Mr. Salinger, he liked to experiment with his fiction. That said, this book is basically one you would like to buy if you want to hear the "inner thoughts,” it seems like, of Salinger himself. He tends to mess around with his sentence structure quite frequently. Totally different from his other works. I gave 4 stars because, to the everyday reader, mind you, this may not be your cup of tea. I’m a Salinger freak, so I will always love what he puts down on paper.

Pages somewhat yellow; cover OK.

This has been my favorite Salinger book since 1970. I have them all, but RAISE HIGH THE ROOF BEAM stays in my mind all the time. The opening sequence changed my life and prepared me for some very hard times in the next 40 years. Fiction does, indeed, help us to understand humanity better than any other source.

Just like Franny & Zooey this is a novel with two parts. The first part in both (Franny and Raise High...) are short and good narratives and makes you realize the writing skills of Salinger, NOW when it comes to the second part in both books: PURE disapointment (Zooey is maybe less sufferable than Seymour Introduction), both have a continuous Buddy Glass ruminations that make it very hard to get into the story (if there is one). Boring.

Veio rápido, bem embalado e conforme a descrição

Cubierta de la portada muy frágil. Pero el contenido es muy bueno.

しっかりとした物です。届きも速いし、満足でした

J.D. Salinger may be best known for his infamous novel 'The Catcher in the Rye' yet his prowess as a short story writer seems to have been forgotten which is quite a shame. Salinger's short stories provide quite a useful insight into a cynical, or at least a more realistic, look at the world instead of the fantasy and feel good books that are pumped into teenagers' heads at the moment like Twilight or some nonsense like that. If you want a good book, then get this.'Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction' were written separately in the mid to late 1950s and were published together in 1963, yet they are still as relevant today as they were then, giving realistic looks of America in the 1950s while criticising all those who made up the façade of a "happy" society. Through the use of intelligent characters Salinger provides a brilliant and witty look at the world which can make you laugh and think about the world you live in at the moment about whether your life reflects any the characters Salinger portrays.Admittedly this book isn't for everyone. While 'Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters' is a highly readable piece of writing, 'Seymour: An Introduction' can be seen as a bit dry and in comparison to some of his other short stories, which I also recommend you read, it is not as entertaining. However if you have read anything else written by Salinger then you will enjoy reading this and I definitely recommend that you do.

Recommend this reading for real literature lovers. You either love Salinger or don't get a clew what's it about. In this book there two stories about Glass family in usual Salinger style: talking about inner family relationship and their attitude to the outer world. The family is 'different' from 'normal', 'typical' people. If you like such a type, Salinger is your author. Not a lot of 'outer' action, everything is inside. Cannot say more, once you read something of Salinger, you get it. If you like it you want to read other his stories: Franny and Zoe, Nine stories, etc. Why I respect Salinger: he wrote his best and then stopped writing because he could not say more. If other authors would follow him, we would have less waste-paper.