Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters, And Seymour: An Introduction

by J.D. Salinger

book data

8,895 ratings, 4.10 average rating, 497 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		38%
4		36%
3		20%
2		3%
1		0%

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published

May 1991 by Bt Bound (first published 1963)

details

School & Library Binding

isbn

0613707532 (isbn13: 9780613707534)

description

Two novellas in one volume:
1. Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters
2. Seymour, An Introduction

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Sep 27, 2007

Paul rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

bookshelves: short-stories, to_reread

In retrospect it's a great shame The Carpenters missed their golden opportunity to release a single called "Raise High the Roof Beam".

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

7 comments

Jun 27, 2007

Sarah Paul rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

This is probably my favorite book, and by far the best of Salinger's work, though the least recognized. It has a passage in it that haunts me, though I've long since lost my copy of the book and can't go back and read it again in its proper context. Buddy hides in the bathroom of Seymour's old apartment (Seymour recently having killed himself), chain-smoking and reading Seymour's journal. Seymour writes: "If and when I do start going to an analyst, I hope to god he has the foresight to l...more

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2 comments

Mar 06, 2007

Rolls rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

Read in February, 2007

recommends it for: Salinger completists

Anyone who read my review of Salinger's "Nine Stories" knows I love this man's work to death. I've read and enjoyed "Catcher in the Rye" and "Franny and Zooey" a whole hell of a lot too. I picked this up with a heart filled with admiration and optimism. Well that optimism was dashed upon the rocks of Salinger's self-indulgence and apparent disregard for his readers.

This book compiles two short stories first published in the New Yorker and are the final t...more Anyone who read my review of Salinger's "Nine Stories" knows I love this man's work to death. I've read and enjoyed "Catcher in the Rye" and "Franny and Zooey" a whole hell of a lot too. I picked this up with a heart filled with admiration and optimism. Well that optimism was dashed upon the rocks of Salinger's self-indulgence and apparent disregard for his readers.

This book compiles two short stories first published in the New Yorker and are the final two entries in Salinger's Glass family saga. "Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenters" focuses on Buddy Glass and his trip to his brother Seymour's wedding. "Seymour: an Introduction" again finds Buddy downstage center and is his way of coming to terms with his brother's memory through literature.

Like "Franny and Zooey" we are served up first a good story followed by a not so good story. However where "Zooey" was rambling and a tad unfocused it was at least a short story. "Seymour" on the other hand is a goddamned mess. It reads like the notes an author would take down before actually starting the job of composition. For every sentence of quality and clarity there seem to be pages upon pages of self-indulgent masturbation. This makes for an interminable and ultimately frustrating read.

It's starts off promisingly though. "Raise High the Roofbeams..." is a delight. It is a comically poignant trip into the past. Buddy Glass getting over a bout of pleurisy in the camp hospital must get to New York and be the only family member at his brother Seymour's wedding. What follows is typical Seymour not to mention Salinger. As usual the characters are so well observed and vividly presented we can practically smell them. There is the usual masterful blending of the serious and the comic. Salinger doesn't so much write a story as create a world that he allows us to visit for a spell.

The greatest reward of course is getting to spend a few more moments with a member of the Glass family. In reading over all of Salinger's writing in the last few months I've become almost as obsessed with reading about them as Salinger is writing about them. That's why I thought despite warnings that I could indeed read and enjoy "Seymour." However it's total disregard for it's readers enjoyment almost dispelled the warm glow I felt after reading "Raise High the Roofbeams..."

So unless you have absolutely nothing better to read or do and you are a completist avoid "Seymour" like grim death.

(less)

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4 comments

Jun 17, 2008

Joshb rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

Salinger is very, very high on the sentimental favorites list, which makes this difficult to assess objectively - so let's start with the easy half of this two-novella collection.

Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters is wonderful, and while it occasionally dips a little too deeply into the preciousness well (the same well that Salinger comes oh-so-close to drowning in in Franny and Zooey), it works, and, if you've read A Perfect Day for Bananafish, serves as a pretty chilling prequel ...more Salinger is very, very high on the sentimental favorites list, which makes this difficult to assess objectively - so let's start with the easy half of this two-novella collection.

Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters is wonderful, and while it occasionally dips a little too deeply into the preciousness well (the same well that Salinger comes oh-so-close to drowning in in Franny and Zooey), it works, and, if you've read A Perfect Day for Bananafish, serves as a pretty chilling prequel to the entire Glass family saga. (And if you haven't read APDFB, what are you waiting for? It's only one of the best short stories ever, and Nine Stories as a whole is indispensable.)

As for Seymour: An Introduction, well... I'm not quite sure what to say. (A well-placed "hoo, boy..." might be appropriate here.) I feel like Salinger had this point gotten himself into a holding pattern where he only knows how to end stories with sudden epiphanies, and he gives us three, all somewhat bargain-basement: 1. Seymour is, for Buddy, something to be given away to the world, to those who never had him. Well, alright. 2. That a Zen approach to writing, where one merely writes without aiming, is the only true way of hitting a target. (In some ways this story, with its tiring constant appeals for our astonished approval at Salinger's erudition, could be seen as a direct example of this theory, but I won't bite.) 3. A re-warmed-over repackaging of the essential lesson of Zooey, that the students that Buddy despises are no less his siblings than Seymour, Boo Boo, Walt, et al. Reading this story, one entirely understands the arguments that Hapworth 16, 1924 was proof of a teetering mind finally gone mad.

But if Salinger's work is as embedded into your DNA as it's become for me, you forgive these flaws for much the same reason it'd be sour and nitpickish to criticize the letter of a friend during hard times - one knows how deeply Buddy must be hurting. It's just a shame that Salinger didn't take over in the third-person, and let poor Buddy take a day off from the task of constantly recounting Seymour.

Read this one after you read the other Glass family stories - these serve as an effective (albeit uneven) coda for the entire affair.(less)

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May 11, 2008

Dan rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: fans of Salinger

For as long as I can remember, people have told me that this was the worst of the Salinger collection. His Godfather III if you will. Having read it, I'm not sure what the hell they were thinking. For me, I enjoyed these two stories immensely. Raise High is written in the style of Franny and Zooey, though from the perspective of a different brother (Buddy). Seymour is different. I don't want to characterize it in one form or another. As a piece of background, both stories revolve around t...more

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Jul 23, 2009

Jacob rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769576)

bookshelves: 2009

Read in October, 2009

10/8/2009: So basically, I’m waiting for Salinger to die.

I don’t mean that maliciously. Really. I bear no ill will towards the man, and I’d wish him a long and pleasant life as a hermit, full of good health and completely lacking in the company of stupid humans--except, well, he’s already had his. The old man is ninety, slowly doddering his way to ninety-one. Hasn’t published in decades. No one’s seen him in years; he doesn’t even yell at those durn kids to get off...more

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Aug 29, 2007

Eric rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

bookshelves: modern

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: people who really like J. D. Salinger.

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters is an excellent short story that follows Buddy Glass on the day of his brother Seymour's wedding. The characters are compelling, you get to know them intimately in the brief time that you have with them, and the story reveals a little more about the inner workings of the Glass family along the way.

Seymour, An Introduction is for those who take an almost voyeuristic pleasure in knowing everything there is to know about the glass family. The story ...more

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Jun 20, 2007

Avital Gad-Cykman rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

bookshelves: usa

Incredble! The way he describes the messed up wedding, the way in the taxi and then that incredible dive into his brother's soul through a page of his diary. The little old uncle! The second story seems like a powerful non-fiction.
His writing is so close to the surface-he writes about the world's reaction to his only published novel, about teaching, about fans and rude people that send him belligerent or all-knowing letters. He writes about pompous academia figures. And about isolating him...more

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Feb 01, 2010

Marcia rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

a long time ago, my friend sent me this passage from raise high and it reminded me 1) why i love salinger and 2) why we are best friends.
"...Muriel loved the kitten and wanted me to love it. Even in the dark, I could sense that she felt the usual estrangement from me when I don't automatically love what she loves. Later, when we were having a drink at the station, she asked me if I didn't think that kitten was 'rather nice.' She doesn't use the word 'cute' any more. When did I e...more

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Jul 22, 2009

Amar rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

Raise High: 3 stars
Seymour: 2 stars

There's something to Salinger, there really is. I've mentioned this before in other reviews, but it's an originality--of circumstance, of characters, of humor--that makes any material of his, no matter how bad, worth reading. Which is why, despite Buddy's incessant droning (Buddy: brother of Seymour and narrator) in Seymour: An Introduction, I kept reading, knowing that little nuggets of original creation lied ahead, nuggets which, in entire b...more

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Jul 08, 2009

Ashley Chalmers rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

bookshelves: own

Read in July, 2009

There were times when I was reading this book that I wondered whether or not I should reconsider Salinger as my favorite author... but then I realized why. Salinger does not write "skim-worthy" sentences. I really feel like the depth of his writing cannot be grasped if a person is not reading them with the utmost concentration. His short stories (Riase HIgh the Roof Beam, Carpenters and others I have read) seem, more or less, useless. In terms of a specific story, they are. But it...more

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Jul 05, 2009

Brittany rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

Read in July, 2009

It's an original collection of 2 short stories by JD Salinger. The first story tells of a twenty-something, Buddy, on the day his older brother, Seymour, is about to get married. Here you learn about the person of Buddy and hints of who Seymour really is as a person. The cast of characters are raw and remind you of people you've met before or feelings you've had before.
The second short story is less of a story with a plot or cast of characters, but more of a story about how a now forty...more

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Feb 04, 2010

Anne rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

Read in February, 2010

As I may have mentioned before, for a long time I didn't care for Salinger. I feel a little like a tool for re-visiting him because he died, but oh well.

"Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" and "Seymour: An Introduction" both took me a while. They're the kind of stories that I feel like I read without really absorbing much, so I think I've missed a lot of important stuff in there. In the end, I think I preferred the latter. It's almost like Tristram Shandy...more

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Sep 21, 2009

Ofmatt (dara) rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

bookshelves: 2009, classics, short-stories

Owns a copy — Read in October, 2009

recommends it for: The first story to anyone; the second story to no one.

I wish I could give this book two different ratings--obviously for the two drastically different stories. As it is I have to settle for subtracting a star from the 5-star rating I would have given this if it had been "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" alone.

From a sense of charity alone, I'd give "Seymour: An Introduction" one star. When other reviewers advise skipping it, they aren't kidding. Not only is "Seymour: An Introduction" a tedious, unpleas...more I wish I could give this book two different ratings--obviously for the two drastically different stories. As it is I have to settle for subtracting a star from the 5-star rating I would have given this if it had been "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" alone.

From a sense of charity alone, I'd give "Seymour: An Introduction" one star. When other reviewers advise skipping it, they aren't kidding. Not only is "Seymour: An Introduction" a tedious, unpleasant read, but it's the pretentious sort that does more than imply that there's something wrong with you as a reader if you have any qualms with it; you just don't "get" it.

The narrator, Buddy Glass, talks more about his love of Seymour than he talks of Seymour. Pages are devoted to doting on the greatness of Seymour's poetry, which is never included. Buddy is just so in love with his own opinions, and with his brother's greatness. He includes notes Seymour had written in response to Buddy's short stories. "My brother was such a genius. Need proof? Here's what he said about my writing." Maybe I'm interpreting it as being more egotistical than it is, but regardless, it seems one step away from posting his grocery list. (Perhaps it's amusing only to me that these notes remind me of the ones Salinger's daughter decided to include in her memoir. Both were bad decisions.) However, there is one letter from Seymour among these notes which gives a much appreciated break from Buddy Glass and all of his old man rambling.

It didn't take long to realize I wasn't going to enjoy reading it, but I soldiered on simply for a sense of closure. It had some value, but only as a resource for those researching Seymour and/or the Glass family. I happen to be engaging in such research, but I still found reading it to be an overall miserable experience.

Don't get me wrong. Do buy the book. Just read "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" and call it a night. It was actually one of the most enjoyable Salinger stories I've read, which perhaps sets "Seymour: An Introduction" up to be even more of a disappointment. You'll learn far more about Seymour in it than in the story titled after him, and you won't have the same urge to give up on literature altogether. The inclusion of Seymour's diary entries gives a glimpse into a side of Seymour and Muriel not apparent in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish."(less)

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Mar 23, 2009

April Hamilton rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

I'd suggest you read Nine Stories before you read this one. This book focuses mostly on the Glass family, and Salinger treats them with much more affection than the assortment of characters in Nine Stories. This book is less humorous and more thought-provoking, particularly on matters pertaining to what it means (and doesn't) to be part of a family. The stories also touch on how our best-laid plans to do right by one another can easily (and sometimes imperceptibly) go awry, as well as the seemin...more

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Dec 28, 2008

Laura rated it:

(review of isbn 0316766941)

bookshelves: read-more-than-once

For the first time in several minutes, I glanced around at the tiny elderly man with the unlighted cigar. The delay didn't seem to affect him. His standard of comportment for sitting in the rear seat of cars - cars in motion, cars stationary, and even, one couldn't help imagining, cars that were driven off bridges into rivers - seemed to be fixed. It was wonderfully simple. You just sat very erect, maintaining a clearance of four or five inches between your top hat and the roof, and you stared f...more

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Oct 15, 2009

Sarah rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769517)

Read in October, 2009

I read the first story about three years ago shortly after I got to Boston while I was on a Salinger kick. But the second story took me a lot longer to get through. I started it several times, but I only just got all the way through. "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" is an easier read because of the clear plot and more traditional structure, although it does have many interesting digressions. "Seymour: An Introduction" is essentially a stream of conscious consisting of d...more

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Jan 21, 2008

Nathan rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769517)

Read in January, 2008

interesting in that the author (both fictional and Salinger himself) goes insane over the course of the two stories and you can actually watch this happen.

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Jun 19, 2009

Longfellow rated it:

(review of isbn 0316769517)

Read in June, 2009

Coming straight to this from Franny and Zooey, I was happy to discover Raise High the Roof Beam also centers around the Glass family. Again, Salinger writes lengthy yet engaging, character-driven scenes. The 90 pages of Raise High are Buddy's story of Seymour's wedding day. It's delightful.

I suspect Seymour: an Introduction may be brilliant as well, but only because I've come to trust Salinger's talent. I confess I don't get it at all, plus it was difficult and not particularly ente...more

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