Tolog Review: Nine Stories

Nine Stories
by J.D. Salinger
reviewed by Emma Willingham

In the book of short stories, Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger is a compilation of some of J.D. Salinger’s best stories. The stories are all different and they all focus on a different topic. Each stories seem to follow a theme and the theme appears to be different in each one. Some stories are about tragedy, some stories are about charity, and some are stories of happiness. Salinger uses adjectives to describe realistic situations and places. He takes fiction stories and turns them into realistic situations. 

In one of his stories, A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Salinger opens the story with a woman named Muriel Glass. She is the wife of Seymour Glass a good looking man that is troubled with his time spent in the war. The author begins the story with Muriel talking to her mother about Seymour. Her mother is worried about Muriel and concerned Seymour is not safe to be around. Even the psychiatrist in the hotel has warned Muriel about Seymour and his odd behavior. Muriel is pleaded with by her mother to come home but she refuses. Salinger then changes focus to Seymour who is laying on the beach with his robe on talking to another girl. The girl’s name is Sybil Carpenter, a girl who wears a yellow bathing suit. She tries to persuade Seymour into going into the ocean with her. He responds with, “If there is one thing I like, it’s a blue bathing suit”(12). Seymour then continues to tell a story of bananafish. The story of a bananafish is that the unusual fish will swim into a hole, eat too many bananas, and then be too fat to exit the hole so that they die. Seymour then leaves the ocean abruptly and heads up to the hotel room where Muriel is sleeping. He then proceeds to shoot himself in the head while Muriel is sleeping beside him.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. It had fun storylines and kept me wanting to turn the page with anticipation. Each story was different enough to wear you could keep reading for hours without getting bored or stopped paying attention. I recommend this book to those who just like to read because there is something in the book for everyone. There are tragic stories, happy stories, fun stories, and scary stories.