This biography of America’s most famous literary recluse touches on all the main aspects of the writer’s life, from growing up as the son of a buttoned-down pork importer to the instant fame that followed The Catcher in the Rye to his later years as a social and literary eremite. The portrait isn’t always flattering. Salinger suffered from a brittle writer’s ego but also a need to be indulged by those with whom he deigned to share his life. There’s also an unseemly fascination with young girls that led to some of the best short stories of his generation but that also bordered on Humbert Humbert ickiness.
Alexander does a convincing job of guiding us through this landscape of flaws and contradictions without conflating the man’s personal foibles with the man’s work. It’s a strong and responsible treatment. Reviewed on May 27, 2021