Wonderful! A must-read for Salinger fans. ( )

Roofbeams has to be Salinger's worst work, which might make it better than the bulk of American fiction writing from a technical perspective, but un-fulfilling when expectations are high. Another chapter in the Glass Family history, this almost exclusively features Seymour although he never makes an appearance. This, in itself, might doom itself but if not then it certainly doesn't help it avoid being a panegyric.
In the first novella, the story takes place entirely on the day of Seymour's wedding. It is a very sad story, so much so that no plot ending could save the tragedy. A short tale written from the perspective of Seymour's younger brother Buddy Glass -- it is set so that almost any description would spoil the story -- and his sorry, pique almost churlish engagement with some members of the bride's family during the events that day.
The second novella is a painfully long, slow slog through praise heaped upon praise for all three hundred sixty degrees of Seymour written by Buddy after Seymour's passing. It starts glacially slow, as if Salinger wants not to test us, but much more tortuously than that, wants to show how very slow writing could be if one wanted to evince it. It picks up pace consistently and when it ends it approaches real Salinger. Imagine a hero absolutely apologizing as he describes his brother, a Jesus-like superhero with off the charts ability to be amazing in any and every facet of life. Ten pages would be a teaser, twenty quite enough, but one hundred kills the soul. ( )

If you asked me what my favourite movie or song was I probably couldn’t tell you. There isn’t any one movie or song that I can single out as being my absolute favourite of all time. When it comes to books on the other hand I can. My favourite book, the story I think everyone should read, is Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, by J. D. Salinger.

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters takes place one hot afternoon in New York city. The story is all about a wedding, and in particular the absent groom who happens to be the narrator’s brother. It’s a simple story, much like all of Salinger’s others, but all the little details make it truly a joy to read. I was shocked to read it was received poorly when it came out in the 50s. It isn’t quite a love story, but it is very much about love. The ending is classic.

Salinger is most famous for writing Catcher in the Rye. I read that novel first during the early years of high school. In my last year, I ended up doing a ISU on Salinger (after picking and giving up on Charles Dickens). I ended up reading all his other stories published as novels: Nine Stories, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour, An Introduction, and Franny and Zooey. I’ve never felt more angry at someone I don’t know when I discovered that the four books I’ve mentioned are the sum total of the man’s published works. You can track down some of his other short stories printed in old magazines if you work hard enough—Tiffany found them in the Waterloo library for example. Nowadays you can also find them online, which is quite nice. Sometime in the late 60s Salinger stopped publishing. Sonuvabitch.

I reread Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters a few days back, which is why it is on my mind. I just finished reading Franny again, and am almost done with Zooey. If you are looking for some good books to read, I can’t recommend these stories enough.

-- http://funkaoshi.com/blog/raise-high-... ( )

In comparison to Salinger’s other work, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction slightly disappoints with its lackluster plot and overwrought observations. On the other hand, I relished the ubiquitous narrator Buddy Glass’ overflowing sprint down memory lane. In both stories, the eldest surviving Glass child attempts to elucidate the long departed Seymour’s quirky traits, intelligence, and his actions before almost jilting his soon to be young widow on their wedding day on a hot, sweltering New York day.

Despite a lukewarm welcome among bookworms and critics alike, this reader lovingly warmed up to Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction partly because the elusive Buddy’s narration holds such promise, providing snippets of Glass family anecdotes which almost makes the reader feel like a fly on the quasi-alienated overachieving family’s living room wall with all their dysfunctional warts itching to break free. ( )