Comments for BookEnds

Comment on Holden in the movies? by Tom Mellana

Tom Mellana — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:07:24 +0000

I absolutely agree that it’s unfilmable. The entire thing would have to be voiceover, which would get very tiring.

Franny and Zooey could be filmed, but it feels more like a play.

Comment on Not-always-so-sweet emotion by Olivia Just

Olivia Just — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:50:48 +0000

I’ve often thought about that moment, too – why doesn’t Holden go down to say hello to Jane? Perhaps it’s simply because he doesn’t want her to know he’s been kicked out — he tells Stradlater a few pages on not to tell Jane he’s “flunked out”of Pencey — but it could be more than that as well. Throughout the next chapters, as he wanders through New York, he continually expresses the intention to “give old Jane a buzz”, but he never really goes through with the action. Maybe he’s worried that Jane will see him differently outside of the golf-and-checker-playing summers in Maine – or, that she will seem different as well. He might not want to shatter his ideal of her from his summer experiences.

Comment on “Boy, that kills me” — Holden’s vernacular by Tom Mellana

Tom Mellana — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:54:12 +0000

While I think some of the words might sound dated, “this madman stuff” for example, the voice is so authentic, and the attitude is so strong that it more than compensates for a few words here and there.

In some cases, I think the older slang words might actually benefit from being out of use, because I bet many younger readers have never heard them before, so they sound new and fresh. And a lot of those old slang words were just plain cool— calling his brother’s car “one of those English jobs” for example. It’s got style.

And Holden calling his brother a prostitute will never get old.

Comment on Reading “Catcher” by Tom Mellana

Tom Mellana — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:03:09 +0000

I have no idea who Mr./Ms. MJ Young is, but he/she might do well to spend some time contemplating Seymour’s Fat Lady.

Comment on Reading “Catcher” by Tom Mellana

Tom Mellana — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:58:36 +0000

Well, that’s one interpretation.

Comment on Reading “Catcher” by MJ Young

MJ Young — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:08:40 +0000

Holden was a self centered whiner. He did nothing to improve his lot in life. Prep-school dropout and angry at everyone.

Comment on Saying goodbye to J.D. Salinger by Tom Mellana

Tom Mellana — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:19:44 +0000

I was surprised at the force of the reaction I had when I saw the headline that he died. It was a blow to the senses, not terribly unlike the feeling I had — years ago — when I first read the words:

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like ….”

I don’t remember the exact age I was, but I’d never read anything quite like that before, and was absolutely stunned. I do remember exactly where I was when I first read it.

But I think my favorite part is after Holden makes a long speech to Phoebe, I think it’s when he explains his dream of catching the kids before they go off the cliff, and she just says something like, “Dad’s going to kill you.”

‘Franny and Zooey’ hit me just as hard, but that nailed-to-the-wall feeling came at the very end of that one.

Catcher is more than a little responsible for my love of coming of age stories, but from the day I read it, I’ve also been on the lookout for other great opening lines. One of my favorites is from “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys,” the only novel by Chris Furhman, who died at a young age:

“By eighth grade, Jesus Christ had been bone meal and rumors for most of 1,974 years, but we were only thirteen. We were daredevils, gangsters. I had a girl’s name, Francis, and a hernia.”

Incidentally, there’s a very funny book called ‘King Dork’ whose protagonist has quite a bit of Holden in him, even as he rails against the “Cult of ‘Catcher.’” The cover design of the paperback edition I have is a defaced version of the classic maroon ‘Catcher’ cover.
It’s by a guy named Frank Portman, who also leads a band called The Mr. T Experience.

I really like those books — love ‘Altar Boys’ actually. But they obviously were not “The Catcher in the Rye.” What is?

I’ve re-read ‘Franny’ a couple of times over the past few years, but it’s been a very long time since I’ve re-read ‘Catcher’.

I guess it’s time.

Comment on Here’s to George by Tom Mellana

Tom Mellana — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:09:24 +0000

If Orwell were alive today, he’d have to write a sequel to ‘1984′ called ‘Little Brothers’ in which we not only embrace Big Brother, but help him by spying on each other with our little camera phones.

Comment on A closer look at In Cold Blood by Chris Preovolos

Chris Preovolos — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:41:52 +0000

But are “changing the facts” and what amounts to adding color the same thing?

Maybe.

–CP

Comment on A closer look at In Cold Blood by Tom Mellana

Tom Mellana — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:11:09 +0000

It absolutely matters. If a writer says something is true, then it better be true. It’s part of the contract the writer makes with the reader, and it’s a trust that cannot be broken. When a writer “bends” the facts, whether it’s an important topic or not, he/she breaks down the trust readers have in all writers.

As newspaper people we’ve all had the experience of starting on a story and getting excited because we think it’s going some place great, only to find on further reporting that the issue or event isn’t nearly as dramatic as we anticipated. It’s a shame, but it is what it is, and the facts must win out.

I read In Cold Blood a long time ago. I remember being disappointed because of its reputation as being such a revolutionary book that totally changed the game of how journalism could be presented. As I read it, I failed to see what was so revolutionary.

Of course, it eventually dawned on me that, not having been alive yet when the book was published, I wasn’t familiar with how non-fiction was presented pre-In Cold Blood. By the time I came of age, writers had done all kinds of things with non-fiction and journalism. So of course the book wouldn’t seem revolutionary, given the context from which I came at it.

I can be a bit dim at times.