Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters

Originally, I was going to write the reviews for Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour, both by J.D. Salinger, all in the same post, but now that I've started reading Seymour, I've realized these two books are two totally separate monsters and I'll summarize them separately.

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters tells the story of Buddy Glass's experiences at his older brother wedding. He finds himself inconveniently trapped in a car with friends and family of the bride, all who dislike Seymour, Buddy's brother. He, awkwardly, listens to the company criticize the groom. Buddy's struggles to remain sane in a car full of rude wedding guests and their strong opinions on his brother and their eccentric family. The plot's pretty simple, but that doesn't mean the book is boring. Buddy's reactions to such an intolerable social situation make for some very interesting prose. More than once I giggled and more than twice I winced. Such difficult circumstances are bound to cause some laughs and make readers pleasantly uncomfortable.

See more reviews or buy Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters at Amazon.com.