A thoroughly miserable and plodding book. There are no protagonists, only antagonists. The humans are without exception ignorant, brutal, myopic, and self-centred. The Canopeans are smug, patronising, hypocritical, and utterly incompetent. As a rewriting of the bible it serves more than anything to boldly restate the problem of evil, and thoroughly endorse the solution that God is perhaps not good, and certainly not omnipotent, instead completely useless. But 500 pages of phone-book like prose is not necessary to reach that conclusion.

Ultimately this is a sharp, thoughtful, funny study of some particular relationships in a particular family at a particular moment. The scene with Zooey and his mother in the bathroom are a joy, and the development of the relationship between him and his brother Buddy, first as we read Buddy's letter and later as we learn about zooey's feelings towards him, have a depth that could justify rereading as often as Zooey seemingly rereads the letter. The mysticism is so-so, the final revelation is rather damp, the connection between the Jesus prayer and various eastern mantras is obvious but it's a nice moment when franny mentions it right after it has occurred to the reader. A few notes of the somewhat tiresome caulfield-esque adolescent "phony"-phobia creep in but for the most part, while not 100% likeable it is enjoyable to spend time in this family's company.