Showing posts with label social history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social history. Show all posts

A "Catcher's" Companion: The World Of Holden Caulfield Review

A Catcher's Companion: The World Of Holden Caulfield
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A "Catcher's" Companion: The World Of Holden Caulfield ReviewI wasn't sure what this book was going to be about at first, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. What the author has done is take the weekend of December 17 thru 19,1949, the weekend of Holden Caulfield's sorry escape to Manhattan, and explain every damn bit of cultural trivia pertaining to the event itself or the text of The Catcher in the Rye.
I suppose it helps if you are willing to assume, as the author apparently does, that Holden was "real" and his experiences occurred in a historically accurate environment, but even if you don't McDaniel's lighthearted approach will probably win you over. The book is a lot of fun. Its sort of an annotated version of The Catcher in the Rye, but with the notes in a separate book. You'll probably want to keep a copy of TCITRclose by while you read because The Catcher's Companion touches on topics and details you might very well have missed unless you are an obsessive re-reader of Salinger's book.
This book should work very well for high school and college-age readers since it presupposes a lack of familiarity with dial telephones, typewriters and 78 rpm records, but even if you are old enough to remember those things there are plenty of other extended digressions that will both amaze and amuse. The passages on who the real Estelle Fletcher might have been, or who the fat piano player at Ernie's was modeled on are eye-opening. There are plenty of illustrations and drawings to further spice-up the text.
If I wanted to be uncharitable I might quibble with McDaniel on his decision to place all of the action on the weekend of December 17-19 instead of December 10-12 as some others have done, and I'm not sure his comments on the peculiar movie Phoebe saw at the Lister Foundation are as much an answer as an evasion. But that's small beans compared to the
fun I had reading this book.
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The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell Review

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell
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The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell ReviewBIG OYSTER is Kurlansky's latest food-themed history (following his previous COD and SALT). It differs from his previous books in several ways, but still serves up a tasty morsel.
Although the title and cover suggest that the book is about oysters, it's actually a history of New York city--the choices and, in particular, the (hindsight-only) mistakes in handling the environment that transformed Manhattan island and its surroundings from pastoral beauty to modern Gotham. Today, New York is the very totem, the very image of "city". This is how it got that way--through the eyes of the oyster.
As a book, it's an interesting read. Kurlansky's scholarship and research are excellent and we get telling anecdotes and solid detail throughout. The titular bivalve, though, sometimes goes missing from sections or has only a peripheral connection to much of the text. At the end the author notes that the book was adapted from Sunday supplement articles and it feels stretched. That's too bad, because it's still a good read and a pleasant diversion. (Don't think I'll try the 17th Century oyster recipes though...)The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell Overview

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