Status Updates From Dokuz Öykü

actually that last quote about the son's room chairs is p 147

To report, shrilly: my mother's dead, and I have to live with her charming husband, and nobody in New York speaks French, and there aren't any chairs in your son's room.

I told him in the way, pointedly enough that I was a student of Buddhism. I later found out that he and Mme Yoshoto were Presbyterians.

Oh darling, don’t be a horrible wet blanket!

“Alright, buddy, let’s move that ass.”

“It threw me, and threw me terribly.”

I am loving all of them so far. “Just before the war with eskimos” was really good

I must have missed some of the subtleties of the story but after reading an article (yes I know that’s cheating) I actually appreciate it a lot more — pretty mouth and green my eyes
Good article about themes in Salinger’s writing and this particular story:
https://interestingliterature.com/202...

They’re good stories but they all stir of feel the same after a while. A little bit like cut outs or something. Prefab formulas idk

Subtle story after subtle story gets a little annoying after a while

Some great dialogue in this story . It’s kind of all dialogue tho tbh. That is this story

Salinger does write some great dialogue though — pp120

Referring to his wife as a kid?? The sexism in this story goes crazyyyy

Kind of sexist to call Arthur’s girlfriend the “young girl”

For Ésme with love and squalor : is this story supposed to be the one he writes her in the story??

Some of these stories are more optimistic than I was expecting. A hint of a turn for the better on their ends.

X started to apologize, but changed his mind and reached for his cigarettes.

This Clay-X conversation on page 109 is hilarious

“Make it extremely squalid and moving.”

I offered her a piece of my cinnamon toast.
"No, thank you," she said. "I eat like a bird, actually."

the dialogue on this page is so funny to me

Teddy - 10/10

Honestly, this is worth reading all the stories for itself. I would never have expected a philosophical conversation between an 11 year old and a college Professor to be this endearing, engaging, and surprisingly profound without it even being pretentious. Somehow Salinger writes an intelligent young man without it being caricature

And that ending good lord.

Awesome story

"I'm going to sing jazz on the radio and make heaps of money. Then, when I'm thirty, I shall retire and live on a ranch in Ohio."

I remarked that it was certainly a terrible day out.
“Yes: quite,” said my guest, in he clear, unmistakable voice of a small-talk detester.

lmao

It seemed to me to be a wonderful dress for a very young girl to be wearing on a rainy, rainy day.

help this is strange

De Damuier-Smith's...

Surprisingly a funny short story about a guy that is pretentious as hell and his ego destroying him. Unlike any of the other stories here, it is not so steeped in subtext and is pretty blunt with how narcissistic the main character is. It's probably my favorite short story out of all these.

8/10

a buttload of fun until the last page of every story 🤨

Story 3 - Just before the war with the eskimos

Meh

Story 2 - Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut

Good, very sad, but not on par with bananafish

A perfect day for Bananafish was good-Seymour had a Florida man moment

The laughing man is such an icon. The description of his life on page 61 is so great and perfect