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pppabblo's review against another edition
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It took me THREE months to read this book. The writing is magnificent, you can tell Franzen is really skilled at his craft, but it does read a little bit pretentious at first. Once you get used to the style it's a lot smoother. All the characte are well developed and you can tell he focuses on presenting them as very flawed humans. No one character is good or bad, they're jut human. And I think that's what this book is ultimately about -- the struggles of an average American family in the early naughts and how they deal with illness, mental illness, loss of jobs, figuring out their passion, struggling to make good financial decisions, and ultimately mostly failing at everything they do. You could say the book is a little pessimistic because nothing seems to go well for the characters, but I think it's more realistic. In fact it's VERY realistic. Franzen doesn't sugarcoat things and there is definitely no happy ending. I read a review previously that said it feels like he doesn't even like his characters, and it might be accurate in the sense that this is not a happy story and Franzen doesnt give his chracters a break. But I don't think an author needs to like his characters, he needs to udnerstand them, and that's something that Franzen does extremely well in this book. He ultimately understands his characters and everything they're going through.
All of that being said, the book is very dense and it's definitely a SLOW read. A lot of parts feel like fluff and frankly could've been edited out. Again, the writing style comes off as pretentious very often, and it feels like Franzen just wants to show off how well he can write as well as how much stuff he knows about all sorts of stuff. It's admirable! He talks from anything from restaurant operations to depression, to LGBT rights, and even investing. But again a lot of that is unnecessary for the story and could've been left out. 8/10
All of that being said, the book is very dense and it's definitely a SLOW read. A lot of parts feel like fluff and frankly could've been edited out. Again, the writing style comes off as pretentious very often, and it feels like Franzen just wants to show off how well he can write as well as how much stuff he knows about all sorts of stuff. It's admirable! He talks from anything from restaurant operations to depression, to LGBT rights, and even investing. But again a lot of that is unnecessary for the story and could've been left out. 8/10
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicidal thoughts
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