The Laughing Man
The Laughing Man
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1949
Book Brief
Beta28
Short Story • Fiction
•
American LiteratureNew York City and the Palisades, United States, over several months in 1928.
1949
Little, Brown and Company
Collected in Nine Stories • Paperback • 2001
Adult
13-17 years
Super Short Summary
In 1928 Manhattan, twenty-five boys spend their afternoons playing sports under the care of their beloved leader, the Chief. Afterward, he captivates them with new installments of an extravagant outlaw adventure about the mysterious Laughing Man. Their familiar routine begins to change when a young woman’s photograph unexpectedly appears inside the Chief’s bus.
Bittersweet
Nostalgic
Fantastical
Humorous
Contemplative
Reviews & Readership
785 ratings
Loved it
Mixed feelings
Not a fan
Review Roundup
Reviewers praise Salinger’s economical blend of comedy and heartbreak, his graceful, unsentimental writing, and his sharp understanding of how seriously children inhabit fantasy. They also admire the story’s understated construction, in which extensive preparation allows a small gesture to carry the ending. Criticism is less settled: one critic finds the Chief’s moral portrayal ultimately ambiguous, while a contemporary review of Nine Stories faults the collection’s macabre excess and says its repeated manipulation of characters’ nerves grows monotonous.
Who Should Read The Laughing Man?
Readers who enjoy layered short fiction will appreciate this story-within-a-story, in which a nine-year-old narrator recalls an after-school club and its leader’s enthralling serial adventures. It is especially suited to those interested in childhood imagination, hero worship, and the relationship between storytellers and their creations. The blend of adventure, gentle humor, longing, and melancholy also makes it a strong choice for readers who prefer emotionally complex stories about what happens when adult concerns begin to intrude on youth.
785 ratings
Loved it
Mixed feelings
Not a fan
The Comanche Club’s shy, gentle young leader, an NYU law student who organizes the boys’ activities and tells their favorite story.
The masked central figure in the Chief’s serialized tale, a resourceful criminal adventurer whom the narrator and other Comanches idolize.
A beautiful former Wellesley student whose photograph appears in the Chief’s bus before she begins joining the group’s activities.
An internationally famous Parisian detective who serves as the Laughing Man’s persistent adversary in the Chief’s adventure story.
A talkative timber wolf and one of the four steadfast companions living with the Laughing Man in the Chief’s story.
A devoted companion of the Laughing Man, described as a lovable dwarf and included among the adventurer’s four-person household.
A giant from Mongolia who lives as one of the Laughing Man’s four loyal companions in the Chief’s ongoing tale.
28
Short Story • Fiction
•
American LiteratureNew York City and the Palisades, United States, over several months in 1928.
1949
Little, Brown and Company
Collected in Nine Stories • Paperback • 2001
Adult
13-17 years
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