Review: 'Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction' by J. D. Salinger

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

'Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction' by J. D. Salinger, 213 pages - Instagram @c_reads_books

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Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction by J. D. Salinger is a book that contains two novellas, both narrated by a character named Buddy Glass. In Raise High, Buddy has taken leave from the army during WWII to attend his brother Seymour’s wedding, but it doesn’t go as planned. Buddy gets into a car with four other guests, only to hear the Matron of Honor rant about how insane Seymour is. Buddy eventually reveals his relation to Seymour, yet she keeps going, revealing along the way Seymour’s peculiarities. The story gets even more interesting from there, with Buddy defending his brother, while also learning more about him. In Seymour, Buddy further reminisces about Seymour, with the novella delving into Seymour’s character, yet also deeply developing Buddy along the way.

I really enjoyed these two novellas. They definitely brought me back to when I read Franny and Zooey, as all four novellas center around the same family, the Glass family. Although Franny and Zooey were only mentioned slightly and not further developed in this book, I always love when authors have characters reappear throughout different stories. Of the two novellas, I must say I preferred Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, yet I also loved Seymour an Introduction. I always love Salinger’s characters, especially the way he develops them. Both novellas contributed to Seymour and Buddy’s characters, and even though Seymour never really appeared in either, with only having been talked about, I feel as though I am a personal friend of his. I additionally just overall love Salinger’s writing style and his description of the world and the people in it. This book is another one to add to my collection of great Salinger works, and I would definitely recommend it!