Salinger

Starred review from September 23, 2013
The culmination of over 200 interviews and almost a decade of research, Shields (How Literature Saved My Life) and Salerno, director of the documentary accompanying the book, offer an oral history, effectively blended with narrative and analysis of the iconic writer and his body of work. In lesser hands, this approach could quickly spiral out of control, but Shields and Salerno keep the story on track. Granted, many mileposts and loreâsuch as Salinger's predilection for young girls or Catcher in the Rye's influence on high-profile assassinationsâwill not be all that revelatory but the authors' impressive collection of first-person accounts by those who were there gives readers greater insight into the writer and his place in the world. Literary snippets, such as "I'm Crazy," a short story Salinger wrote in Europe that was the first story narrated by Holden Caulfield, and asidesâ"Jesus, he has a helluva talent," Hemingway is reported to have said of Salingerâcombined with a number of photos will make this a must-read for fans of the celebrated author. Photos.

March 1, 2014

Some books are wonderfully enhanced by being produced for audio, but this is not one of them. Though this title was written as an oral history, and all of the narrators (Peter Friedman, January LaVoy, Robert Petkoff, and Campbell Scott) are excellent readers, the audio version deprives listeners of important pieces included in the book, e.g., the photographs and, crucially, the footnotes and annotations that explain who the many people being quoted actually are. The narrative itself contains an exhaustive amount of often fascinating information about J.D. Salinger but is unwieldy and oddly structured, with some information revealed chronologically, while other facts appear in sections titled "Conversation with Salinger," and many quotes are repeated multiple times in different places in the book, not always to helpful effect. No one can deny that this work contains a tremendous amount of information that may be of interest to the author's fans, but no real fan could listen to this audiobook without cringing at the idea of how much he would have hated such a program. Those who are not devotees of Salinger can be expected to have a difficult time making it through nearly 20 hours of sad, unflattering anecdotes and speculation about a man whose few published books continue to speak so deeply to his readers. VERDICT Despite fine performances by the narrators, readers with an interest in Salinger may be better served by this biography in its printed form.--Heather Malcolm, Bow, WA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.