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

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Format: Mass Market Paperback


Description

The last book-length work of fiction by J. D. Salinger published in his lifetime collects two novellas about "one of the liveliest, funniest, most fully realized families in all fiction" (New York Times). These two novellas, set seventeen years apart, are both concerned with Seymour Glass--the eldest son of J. D. Salinger's fictional Glass family--as recalled by his closest brother, Buddy. "He was a great many things to a great many people while he lived, and virtually all things to his brothers and sisters in our somewhat outsized family. Surely he was all real things to us: our blue-striped unicorn, our double-lensed burning glass, our consultant genius, our portable conscience, our supercargo, and our one full poet..." Read more


Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown and Company; Mass Market ed. edition (May 1, 1991)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316769517


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 18


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.2 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.15 x 0.7 x 6.7 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #154,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #547 in Classic American Literature #4,982 in Classic Literature & Fiction #10,314 in Literary Fiction (Books)


#547 in Classic American Literature:


#4,982 in Classic Literature & Fiction:


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Top Amazon Reviews


  • Praise for Seymour
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. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2022 by Steiner

  • No Stars for "Seymour: An Introduction"
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." ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2017 by Kindle Customer

  • and have since sent this one off anonymously to a friend who love reading. I think you will need ...
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! ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2016 by Fiona Fong

  • Clever, witty and profoundly spiritual
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.
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2021 by Morpheus11

  • This body of work is fantastic, just a few things to consider . . .
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. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2014 by kevin klix

  • Cover better than pages
Pages somewhat yellow; cover OK.
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2020 by Diane

  • Amazing, powerful book
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. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2017 by Nolie

  • Unequal Reading
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. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2010 by S. C. Rocha

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