--- "Peggy F. Jean-Louis" wrote: The first time I read the letter that Buddy wrote to Zooey, I remember feeling sad...because out of all the people I've ever loved, none of them could ever write to me so beautifully. It's the kind of letter everyone dreams of getting and probably never will. That's what makes it so special. --- end of quoted material --- yes, exactly. And especially the idea that someone in a person's own family, when families are often so hopelessly tied up in the trivial, could understand that person so well and write a letter so full of EVERYTHING--compassion, apology, shared memory, instruction, closeness and distance at the same time. Like Franny and Zooey I also grew up in a family full of much-older siblings, but none of them could or would ever write a letter like that. What pulls me into that scene is the fact that the very relationships that annoy Zooey so much are the ones I can't help but envy...