FRANNY & ZOOEY

Finished Tu 2/14/12

A couple of weeks ago I read an article about the 'Second Anniversary' of Salinger's death, and they said that although not quite as popular as CATCHER IN THE RYE, FRANNY & ZOOEY was the better novel. And, I agree.

Salinger's characters seem to focus (obsess?) over the 'phoniness' of the people in their lives. If only they could connect with one single honest and authentic individual. And, to this day, that's a perennial theme in the life of any young person anywhere in the world. But, what I really have always enjoyed about Salinger's work, is that he attempts to blend and demonstrate the common ground of the core beliefs of Christianity with the philosophies and religions of the East. Salinger, Thomas Merton, and Pope John XXIII helped to usher in this ecumenical movement of the 60's. Today, modern Conservative Christians are convinced that they have all the answers, and there is nothing to be learned from any other point of view. It's a shame, but America has become an evangelical nation, but not very Christian at all. I'm sure that Salinger did not approve.