Salinger

By: David Shields, Shane Salerno

Narrated by: Peter Friedman, January LaVoy, Robert Petkoff, Campbell Scott

Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Based on eight years of exhaustive research and exclusive interviews with more than 200 people - and published in coordination with the international theatrical release of a major documentary film from the Weinstein Company - Salinger is a global cultural event: the definitive biography of one of the most beloved and mysterious figures of the 20th century.

For more than 50 years, the ever elusive author of The Catcher in the Rye has been the subject of a relentless stream of newspaper and magazine articles as well as several biographies. Yet all of these attempts have been hampered by a fundamental lack of access and by the persistent recycling of inaccurate information. Salinger remains, astonishingly, an enigma. The complex and contradictory human being behind the myth has never been revealed.

No longer.

In the eight years since Salinger was begun, and especially in the three years since Salinger’s death, the authors interviewed on five continents more than 200 people, many of whom had previously refused to go on the record about their relationship with Salinger. This oral biography offers direct eyewitness accounts from Salinger’s World War II brothers-in-arms, his family members, his close friends, his lovers, his classmates, his neighbors, his editors, his publishers, his New Yorker colleagues, and people with whom he had relationships that were secret even to his own family. Shields and Salerno illuminate most brightly the last 56 years of Salinger’s life: a period that, until now, had remained completely dark to biographers.

Provided unprecedented access to diaries, letters, legal records, and secret documents, listeners will feel they have, for the first time, gotten beyond Salinger’s meticulously built-up wall. The result is the definitive portrait of one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th century.

©2013 David Shields and Shane Salerno (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

Excellent read

Excellent overview of Salinger ' s life with very good analysis of the forces that shaped him using many sources.

Ingenious novel or biography? Hard to tell....

Wow, am I glad I got the flu and was too uncomfortable to sleep and had to spend 2 days in bed. This book is GENIUS...the narration is perfection (sometimes multiple casts don't work for me, but this one is done brilliantly) and I have always wanted to know more about the man who wrote Catcher in the Rye, as it has so much significance. I know there is a documentary (that I hope will not be overlooked in favor of Anchorman, Spiderman 10 or some such drivel) coming out this fall and I wanted to read the book first, as the only book of JD Salinger's I have read is "Catcher". Now, I want to read everything...and this book suggests that there are 5 completed manuscripts that are going to start being released in 2015. These books are currently in the custody of his son. JD just did not want any more publicity in his lifetime.

He reminds me of a male version of Harper Lee, only he had more than one book in him.

It is an amazing blend of narrative, insights, real letters (never before published) and voices of those who loved the beloved writer who just wanted to be left in peace, but made pilgrimages to his house anyway, just to be blessed or given direction or were his lovers. Mr. Salinger kept saying "I am a fiction writer...I have nothing to offer you" to the many pilgrims. He participated in D Day and lived through WWII....which is an amazing feat in it's self.... But he was obviously shell shocked (or what we would call today PTSD) and just wanted to live a peaceful life and write. He never wanted our adoration.

We get to hear from his first true love, Oona O'Neill, the saucy daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill, who married Charlie Chaplain over JD and had 8 kids and flaunted their sexuality in JD's face. (that happens early on in the book, and I shall not reveal more)

We get to hear from the few fans who were able to break through his impenetrable wall-o-silence life and exchanged letters with him or published articles about the reclusive author.

Probably most of the facts could be looked up on Wikipedia, but then you miss the chance of listening to one of the greatest books ever recorded!

Five stars isn't enough for this wonderful audiobook.... I would need a whole constellation of stars to do it right...

BRAVO! This is the best book I have heard in a very long time. Totally captivating. But I have to wonder.... is it a novel (as listed here and other places) or a clever biography. You choose.

Fascinating information about an elusive character

Would you consider the audio edition of Salinger to be better than the print version?

The print edition offered more in the way of information about all the people quoted in the audio version. It had a glossary of the individuals in Salinger's life which was necessary. The audio version could have been enhanced with better description of who was being cited and how they fit in with Salinger's life.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Salinger?

The description of the assault on Utah Beach, the fighting in the Hurtgen forest, the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of the concentration camp was painful but exceptional.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. It was too much for one sitting.

great

well done. say what you will critics but this is well done. I, for one, believe this book is highly accurate overall and presented in a compelling manner from beginning to end.

Shattering the Image

Any additional comments?

False rumors, incorrect stories, and outright lies are being corrected, and light is finally being shed on the mysterious life of one of the most famous authors in American history. From his privileged Park Avenue upbringing, to the horrors of the Second World War, to his walking away from the American dream, and then his spiritual quest and final withdrawal from society, Salinger neatly compiles Shane Salerno’s decade-long obsession with author J. D. Salinger. Salerno’s account of the author’s life is fascinating for both casual and diehard fans of the author. A group of exceptional voice actors, including Peter Friedman, January LaVoy, Robert Petkoff, and Campbell Scott help to bring Salinger’s story to life. At points there is too much revelation here – we’re learning too much about the man and shattering the image – and this may be disappointing to some – however, the story of the author’s life is never dull.

best literary biography I've ever read

compelling story and incredible research; absolutely a must for serious Salinger aficionados. salerno and shields have done fantastic work here

More Scrapbook than Biography

Don't try to read this book unless you are a hardcore Salinger devotee willing to sit through hours of tedium to pick up a new factoid or anecdote about this writer of little productivity but huge reputation. I fit that description, so I had no trouble sitting through it, or driving and choring through it, and I considered the 20 hours well spent. I didn't learn a ton I hadn't already picked up about Salinger through various scattered reports and books but it was useful to have it all brought together in one place and to have the reality sorted from the myth.

This book was more a business enterprise than a literary effort and the writers spared little expense in buying permissions, running down sources and hiring expert researchers in the faith their investment would be richly repaid. It is a great resource for the Salinger aficionado. That it is getting such a rough ride critically is mainly due to the authors and publishers' implied promise that it would crack the Salinger mystery and reveal once and for all why he hid out for most of his life and what he did all that time. It doesn't deliver, although it may have gotten closer in its clumsy, over-documented way than any previous attempt.

In the end it is limited by its authors' inability to effectively analyse all the raw data they accumulate. It also falls prey to the fallacy that has defeated many an amateur arts biography in the past--by looking for the answer to the mystery in the personal history of the artist rather than in the work for which he is known. Salinger himself tries repeatedly to give his multitudinous stalkers the key to what they seek by saying "I am a writer of fiction," but Shields and Salerno pay no more attention than the hordes of gawkers who plagued Salinger at his rural New Hampshire hideout.

Although Salerno repeatedly bursts forth with inflated and sophomoric claims about Salinger having shaped the whole course of postwar English literature and being the most important writer of his time, the authors spend very little time trying to analyse just what it was about Salinger's tiny sample of writing that might justify such claims, or what there was about it that made him still such a hot topic half a century after he finished his best work. Too bad, because that is where the answer is to be found.

Salinger was a flawed and nasty human being; these authors and others have now established that beyond doubt. But he wrote a couple of thin books that have bewitched and bedazzled readers around the world like little else. What is there about Nine Stories and Catcher in the Rye that gives them such powers? Salinger may have been a cad and a crackpot in his personal life, but he was a writer of breathtaking talent and stunning technique. He created magic on the page, and that is why we can't forget him. This book throws no light whatever on that.

A Worthy Listen

This work lends itself very well to the audio format with superb performances and interpretation by the narrators. It is certainly a documentary format and that seems to be an obstacle for others who have posted comments.

Rich Seeley's review pretty much covers it, "Good biographical details marred by over analysis". I am not a Vedanta devotee, but certainly recognize that the Shields/Solerno team missed the mark when they over and over try to blame religion, particularly eastern philosophies, for "killing" Salinger's art and shaping his idiosyncratic behavior. Their repeated cherry-picking of religious teachings in attempt to explain Salinger's choices are disappointing. Religion is not the cause of anything, rather a symptom of mental health issues and how Salinger dealt with them. These mental health issues certainly had root even before Salinger's war experiences. I found the Shields/Solerno commentary, while at times informative and of merit, a little too certain in its conclusions, presumptuous.

Still, the uneasiness created by the critical interludes of Shields and Solerno is far out-weighed by an incredible range of interviews that reconstruct a significant amount of Salinger's life experiences and give depth to his character. The interviewees are largely respectful and the authors seem to take care in balancing the criticism.

I expect we are years away from a definitive biography, and I, like many, are certainly looking forward to Salinger's writing that is expected to be released beginning in 2015. Until then, with this publication we can make good ground on understanding the person and his work.

Good biographical details marred by over analysis

First, this is a book that probably comes off better as an audio work rather than a print edition. It is largely a compilation of interviews and letters, which lend themselves to being read aloud. The readers here, especially Campbell Scott are very compelling. Reviews I've read of the print edition complain of the book's length and make it sound like a slog to read. So for those with a choice, the Audible edition is probably the best bet.

As for the content itself, this book cries out for a skilled editor. It is too long and some sections, especially the authors' analysis, could have been cut to make a more readable book. The authors' attempts to imitate Salinger's style are cringe-worthy but fortunately don't dominate the book.

The authors especially go off track in expressing the dubious idea that Salinger's study of Vedanta led him to stop publishing, renounce the world and live a hermit-like existence. The authors seem to think that this is a Vedanta prescription for living. I have been a member of the Vedanta Society for more than a decade and that is not a way of life followed even by the monks, who publish books and travel, give lectures and even have Facebook pages. Being a Vedanta devotee did not stop Christopher Isherwood from living an active gay life in Hollywood while helping translate Vedanta literature, publishing his own novels and memoirs, lecturing at universities and giving press interviews. The SALINGER authors' repeated contention that Vedanta "killed" Salinger's art is just not credible. They misconstrue Vedanta as a monolithic and dogmatic belief system with extreme lifestyle restrictions when it is anything but that. Members of the Vedanta Society as well as monks and nuns are free to follow the spiritual path that resonates with them individually. Anyone who doubts that might want to read Isherwood's MY GURU AND HIS DISCIPLE.

From the many interviews and letters that make up this book, it appears that Salinger did not live the life of a hermit in a cave. He travelled, attended sporting events, corresponded with life-long friends, loved television, and read The New York Times. As several people quoted in the book point out, the myth of Salinger the hermit stemmed mostly from the fact that for many possible reasons, he stopped publishing his stories, avoided press interviews, shunned the New York and L.A. social elite, and wouldn't allow The Catcher in the Rye to be made into a movie. He wasn't a hermit. He was an author who avoided the marketing and media publicity machine that dominates American pop culture.

A good biography of Salinger is yet to be written. This is obviously not it. But for those interested in the man and the artist this book contains a lot of very interesting information.

Shocking Insight into an Author I didn’t Know

I was very, very impressed with the total success of this book on every level. J.D Salinger, World War II vet, friend of Hemingway, extreme recluse, inspired the shooting of John Lennon... To anyone who enjoyed Catcher in the Rye even half as much as I did, you will not be disappointed by the story behind it one bit.

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY