The Catcher in the Rye: The Legacy of J.D. Salinger

J.D. Salinger, author of the best selling novel, The Catcher in the Rye, died yesterday at the age of 91.  An instant bestseller upon its release in 1951, The Catcher in the Rye has been translated into several languages and sells about 250,000 copies a year.  It was also highly contested in the earlier years after its release for the language and theme.

A popular book for both adults and adolescents, The Catcher in the Rye is a slice in the life of Holden Caulfield, a teenager expelled from Pency Prep, a college preparatory school in Pennsylvania.  Holden is alienated from his parents and peers.  He returns to his hometown, New York City, for three days, checks into a hotel instead of going home, watches and observes life in the city as he drinks away his loneliness.  He finally goes to his parents' apartment when they are away, to see his sister, Phoebe, the one person he feels close to.  He tells her of his fantasy of being the guardian of  children playing in a huge rye field at the edge of a cliff.  He would catch children before they unwittingly run off the cliff, possibly saving them from the abyss of adulthood. The book is filled with metaphors about growing up.

Told in the voice of its main character, Holden, the book resonates with teenagers and young adults alike as it gives the reader insight into the angst of adolescents, the uncertainties of adulthood, Holden's pervading loneliness and pining for the loss of innocence.  It leaves the reader to speculate and make his own conclusions. Some suggest that reading the book at different times in life produce different insights into Holden's plight.

J D Salinger wrote several short stories before and after The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger first introduced Holden Caulfield in the short story, Slight Rebellion Off Madison.  He also wrote novellas but none quite reached the stature of The Catcher.  Salinger became an eccentric recluse, living in a cabin in Cornish, New Hampshire.  He was married a few times and has two children.  Salinger received and vehemently refused many offers for the film rights for Catcher, which is still highly sought by many producers.  It is not clear how many other Salinger manuscripts exist or what will become of them.  Salinger was a very private person who loved writing for its sake.  In his own words, " I like to write, I love to write.  But I write just for myself and my own pleasure."

                                                                             Jerome David "JD" Salinger

                                                      January 1, 1919- January 27, 2010

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice is a Past Due Tribute

"Rebellion was on my mind that day. All during February we’d been talking about people who had taken stands. We had been studying the Constitution in Miss Nesbitt’s class. I knew I had rights. I had paid my fare the same as white passengers. I knew the rule—that you didn’t have to get up for a white person if there were  no empty seats left on the bus—and there weren’t. But it wasn’t about that. I was thinking, Why should I have to get up just because a driver tells me to, or just because I’m black? Right then, I decided I wasn’t gonna take it anymore. I hadn’t planned it out, but my decision was built on a lifetime of nasty experiences." Excerpt from Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice.


One day in 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, Black fifteen year old Claudette Colvin refused to yield her seat to a white man in a Capitol Heights bus.  She was thinking of a school assignment and ignored the bus driver's order to give up her seat.  Police officers forcibly removed her from the bus and hauled her off to jail. This happened nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man.  Colvin's long due place in history is narrated in the book, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip M. Hoose (released January 2009.) 

Hoose' very informative narrative about this forgotten incident also chronicles the plight of Black people of the era.  Black men and women sat in the back of the bus.  They could not try on shoes and instead had to draw their feet on paper to approximate the size.  The book also narrates the climate of 1955 Alabama.  Black activists initially backed Colvin, hoping to have a test case but dropped it apparently because Colvin was from the lower class and shortly after the incident, got pregnant. The NAACP did not think Colvin provided a reputable face for the civil rights movement.   A few months later, the organization backed Rosa Parks when she, too, refused to yield her seat to a white man.  This catalyzed a mass boycott of the public transportation system. Colvin later became one of four plaintiffs to challenge segregation laws in Browder v Gayle.  This was litigated all the way to the Supreme Court which, in December 1956, ruled segregation to be unconstitutional.

Hoose was awarded the 2009 National Book Award for this work. An award winning writer of young people's books, Hoose captured the segregationist climate of the times, Colvin's own narrative and the events unfolding at the time.  There are some narration of violence and rape which may be disturbing to preteens.  This book is written for adolescents and young adults. It is riveting as it is educational.  It especially captures a most important lesson for young people- the power of one in bringing about change.
                                                    

Robert Parker, A Master of the Detective Story

Robert B. Parker died on January 18, 2010.  He was 77 years old.  He leaves behind a legacy of some 70 novels, mainly of the mystery genre, the most popular of which are the Spenser and  Jesse Stone series.

Parker's writing was influenced by Raymond Chandler whom he admired.  Parker completed Poodle Springs one of Chandler's unfinished manuscripts.  Parker, in turn, has inspired contemporary detective writers.  The reader, for instance, can see some similarity between Spenser (first name unknown), a Boston private investigator and Chandler's Philip Marlowe. (Spenser was adapted into the  popular TV series: Spenser: For Hire starring Robert Urich as Spenser.)  Spenser's friendship with Hawk, his best friend and side kick, in turn, is mirrored in mystery writer Robert Crais' detective buddies, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. Boston is the locale for the Spenser series just as Dennis Lehane's mystery stories (Gone, Baby, Gone) is set in Boston suburb, Dorchester, portraying a city not just as a setting but a major character in the plot.  Parker also wrote the Jesse Stone series which has been adapted into television starring Tom Selleck. Jesse Stone is a flawed sheriff battling his own demons while solving nefarious goings on in the town of Paradise. 

Robert Parker novels are entertaining to read although some are better than others, not surprising considering the sheer number of books he has written. His stories were also commentaries on relationships- father-son, love and marriage, and friendships. Sadly we say good-bye to such a prolific writer of the mystery genre and realize that soon, there will no longer be Spenser or Jesse Stone stories. Just as Raymond Chandler inspired Parker, we hope his style will continue to live on in younger mystery writers' craft.

                                                                   Robert B. Parker
                                                                        1932-2010

Janet Evanovich Brings Laughter to the Page

Janet Evanovich, every woman's favorite mystery writer, is the creator of Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter, and the zany cast of characters that populate the Plum novels. If you have not heard of Stephanie Plum, here is what you're missing.

Stephanie Plum lives in the burg of Trenton, New Jersey where she works as a fugitive apprehension officer for her cousin, bail bonds owner, Vinnie. Besides Vinnie, there is Connie who is the office manager, and Lula, bounty hunter wanna be. In a previous life Lula was a "ho" now gone straight. She vacillates between dieting and feeding her large frame which is usually encased in spandex and Lycra three sizes smaller. Trouble seems to follow Stephanie. The fugitives just refuse to be apprehended and the cavalry has to come to her rescue. There is grandma Mazur who likes to ride shotgun from time to time. Grandma is a fun loving widow whose main leisure activity is going to funeral viewings. Stephanie's mother worries and cooks and feeds the brood while Stephanie's father suffers the craziness of his family in silence. Then there are the men in Stephanie's life. Childhood sweetheart, police officer, Morelli with whom Stephanie has an on again off again love affair. He is frustrated with the life threatening situations our heroine gets into. And there is mysterious, dark, handsome, Ranger, fellow bounty hunter, protector and dangerously seductive. He can be counted upon to ride to the rescue and then vanish into the sunset. Oh, and did I mention that Stephanie has a knack for getting her cars crashed, fire bombed, and blown up?

Evanovich' easy fun loving style brings the characters alive on the pages. Once a romance writer, she says she ran out of words to describe love making and decided to move to the romantic adventure genre. We are all the happier that she did as she is does capture comedic mystery better. The Plum books are titled by the numbers starting from One for the Money published in 1994 to Finger Lickin Fifteen(2009) There are short Plum novels of the "Between the Numbers" series the latest of which is Plum Spooky (January 2009.)

So drive, don't run to your nearest bookstore and get yourself a Stephanie Plum book. Or better yet, buy online at: http://www.newandgentlyreadbooks.com/

Bibliophiles in Mystery Books: Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr

Lawrence Block, author of the Matthew Scudder mystery series, is a very prolific mystery writer.  In the Burglar series, he utilizes his comedic genius to make the reader fall in love with the main character, larcenous Bernie Rhodenbarr.

"Burglary is, I should point out, not a career I would recommend for anyone.  The fact that I evidently can't give it up doesn't mean I'm not well aware of the disagreeably sordid nature of what I do." Says Bernie Rhodenbarr in Burglar on the Prowl.

Introduced in 1977 in Burglars Can't Be Choosers, Bernie Rhodenbarr is a gentleman burglar who lives and works in New York City.   He is owner/ proprietor of  Barnegat Books, selling used books by day and on some nights, he is an uninvited guest in a home where he intends to steal item or items of great value.  Bernie meticulously researches the object he plans to purloin, his target and his entry and escape routes. Incarcerated once before in his youth, he does not wish to repeat the experience.Unfortunately, where he expects no one to be home, he often encounters a dead body or two, often in the heels of law enforcement.  Bernie is, of course, the prime suspect and he must investigate the crime in order to clear his name. Thus, the plot thickens.

Bernie's cat Raffles, named after the gentleman burglar, lives in the bookstore.  Bernie is often joined for lunch or an after work drink by his dearest friend, Carolyn Kaiser, proprietor of the neighboring dog grooming salon, The Poodle Factory.  They could have been lovers but for the fact that Carolyn is lesbian and Bernie has many girlfriends.  Instead, they talk about their love life and Bernie's breaking and entering projects of which Carolyn is sometimes an accomplice.  Ray Kirschmann is a detective in New York's finest who somehow gets to investigate the crime scenes.  He is not above a little bribe here and there and he eventually gets credit for solving the crime.  Wally Hemphill is Bernie's lawyer who has to frequently bail him out of jail. Marty Gilmartin, a wealthy businessman, once one of Bernie's burgling victims, sometimes provides Bernie names and addresses of wealthy homeowners wanting to cash in on property insurance.

Lawrence Block fans will enjoy this character. As in the Hit Man series, the character is an ambivalent criminal who is confronted with the error of his ways yet is hard pressed to quit. The Burglar series is full of larceny and foibles and is an easy entertaining read. Block's most recent book is Step by Step: A Pedestrian Memoir.