"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
The war hangs over these wry stories of loss and occasionally unsuppressed rage. Salinger's children are fragile, odd, hypersmart, whereas his grownups (even the materially content) seem beaten down by circumstances--some neurasthenic, others (often female) deeply unsympathetic. The greatest piece in this disturbing book may be "The Laughing Man," which starts out as a man's recollection of the pleasures of storytelling and ends with the intersection between adult need and childish innocence. The narrator remembers how, at nine, he and his fellow Comanches would be picked up each afternoon by the Chief--a Staten Island law student paid to keep them busy. At the end of each day, the Chief winds them down with the saga of a hideously deformed, gentle, world-class criminal. With his stalwart companions, which include "a glib timber wolf" and "a lovable dwarf," the Laughing Man regularly crosses the Paris-China border in order to avoid capture by "the internationally famous detective" Marcel Dufarge and his daughter, "an exquisite girl, though something of a transvestite." The masked hero's luck comes to an end on the same day that things go awry between the Chief and his girlfriend, hardly a coincidence. "A few minutes later, when I stepped out of the Chief's bus, the first thing I chanced to see was a piece of red tissue paper flapping in the wind against the base of a lamppost. It looked like someone's poppy-petal mask. I arrived home with my teeth chattering uncontrollably and was told to go straight to bed."
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Condition: New. Fast Shipping - Safe and secure Mailer. Seller Inventory # 521PY6001HLW
Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. 0.6. Seller Inventory # 0316767727-2-1
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 0.6. Seller Inventory # 353-0316767727-new
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780316767729
Book Description Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 9780316767729
Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. Nine Stories 0.58. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780316767729
Book Description Condition: New. Brand New! Not Overstocks or Low Quality Book Club Editions! Direct From the Publisher! We're not a giant, faceless warehouse organization! We're a small town bookstore that loves books and loves it's customers! Buy from Lakeside Books!. Seller Inventory # OTF-S-9780316767729
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # BKZN9780316767729
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # ABLIING23Feb2215580119791
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # I-9780316767729