With Love and Squalor: 13 Writers Respond to the Work of J.D. Salinger

This is one of the best books I've read about a writer. Each of the 14 articles gives us a different point of view on old J.D., and all of them come up with great insights. My favorite is "Salinger and Sobs", written by Charles D'Ambrosio (we're sure going to hear this name a lot). This article is very sensitive and really touching. I think the guy understood Salinger - and Holden Caulfield - very deeply."The Salinger Weather", by Thomas Beller, is also fascinating. Take a look at this quote: "... there is the fear I have that if you're a Salinger fan, if you are living in the Salinger Weather, you can never have a relationship with another person. I mean a developed, adult, love-type relationship." He hit the mark! And that makes us think a lot.Well, I had a lot of fun with "Good-bye, Holden Caulfield. I Mean It. Go! Go!", by Walter Kirn. When it comes to the "with squalor" part of the book, Emma Forrest's piece is very charming. She says that Salinger quit publishing because he sort of knew he could not be one of the greatest world's writers, because he knew he was not so good as people would expect after "Catcher". That sounded like a challenge. And it is a shame that J.D. didn't take it on.Anyway, if you're a Salinger freak, or if you just like a great reading, this book is indispensable.

This is an excellent survey of the influence(or lack there of in some cases) that J. D. Salinger has exercised over the literary world. Each essay is written by a contemporary writer who details his/her experience with Salinger and his work. All of the essays are very interesting and well done. However, the essays in the book raise another question, the answer to which isn't found within the essays. What is the influence of Salinger on ordinary people? Is there any or has he had very little influence beyond the writing community. Has the experience of ordinary readers been similar to or totally different from the essay writers? Almost all high school and college students are required to read The Catcher in the Rye and somtimes Salinger's other works, this is where most of the essay writers became acquainted with him. Yet none of the writers attempt to really go beyond their own experience to examine that bigger question. That is too bad, the book would have been even more interesting had some attempt been made to examine this question. Maybe there needs to be a sequel that explores it.

How I wish this book had been around for the many years I taught "Catcher in the Rye" and "Franny & Zooey" to my high school students. I read half of "Love and Squalor" on my feet at a bookstore; I couldn't stop reading long enough to buy it until the place was closing -- 14 gifted writers responding to their experiences with not only "Catcher" but the whole scanty Salinger cannon. How I wish there had been 28! The writings range from the good to the extraordinary -- I particularly loved Charles D'Ambrosio's beautiful piece about suicide and "crappy, broken-down families" (and can that phrase please replace "dysfunctional"?), John McNally's insightful observations on the fabulous minor characters in "Catcher" and Karen E. Bender's lovely literary 'first kiss' with Holden. Best of all, the book has introduced me to these three wonderful writers, all of them new to me. After reading "Catcher" more than thirty times over the years, thank you all for making it new to me again.

Let's face it. Like it or not, Salinger had a monumental impact on the way Americans read and write fiction, particularly short fiction. However, it is unfortunate that the greatest impact depicted here in "With Love and Squalor" is via tributes to "Catcher in the Rye." If you haven't read "Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenter," "Nine Stories," and Salinger's other novellas and short fiction, you haven't even come close to the tip of the iceberg.The authors presented here (a good number of whom I've never read) establish themselves almost immediately as a) Salinger followers from the moment the fizz of puberty's effervescence first erupted, and b) naysayers to the works of non-fiction that have recently arisen regarding Salinger's private life. No fewer than five of the fourteen felt it necessary to repeat that Salinger is purported to have a less-than-palatable proclivity for drinking his own urine and spending time with young girls. These two proclamations from the authors tended to cloud what would otherwise be an excellent anthology of Salinger essays. I would advise the reader to understand that this is what you'll be up against when you first open the book, and then I would advise the reader to get over it.An almost clinical exploration Salinger's suicidal writing (foremost in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," but also prevalent in a surprising number of other stories) is among the most riveting reading, not only because we've become intimate with the stories in question (and love them), but also because the author of this snippet [whose name I have woefully misplaced] has been touched with suicide himself. It's a poignant and bittersweet recognition the author makes, seeing himself in Salinger's characters at a far deeper level than, happily, many of us will never have to dig.Every story in this book is in itself a work of art. Pity about the urine, though.