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agroni's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
miabonacorsi's review against another edition
DNF; confusing language that just made me lost, like when is the story gonna start⁉️
apreziuso's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
atleastonebookperweek's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is a really great book. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Crossroads but I enjoyed it much more than I enjoyed Purity. Would recommend if you enjoy a messy family drama with some tongue in cheek humour. Also if you are open to examining various types of privilege, and also open to dissecting the American Dream.
scavengercat's review against another edition
4.0
Gave it another shot...
First attempt at reading this didn't go so well. Once I finally got into it I thought it was great. The midwestern family really hit home. I had tears in my eyes often—and that doesn't happen very often.
First attempt at reading this didn't go so well. Once I finally got into it I thought it was great. The midwestern family really hit home. I had tears in my eyes often—and that doesn't happen very often.
ponch22's review against another edition
2.0
"What 2001 novel, a National Book Award-winner, tells the story of a Midwestern couple and their children from the mid-20th century to 'one last Christmas' together near the end of the century?"
That was a trivia question I missed earlier this year and what prompted me to add [b:The Corrections|3805|The Corrections|Jonathan Franzen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1355011305l/3805._SY75_.jpg|941200] to my Libby holds list. I'd heard of [a:Jonathan Franzen|2578|Jonathan Franzen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1563172476p2/2578.jpg] but never read any of his work, and barely recognized the name of this award-winning book.
"In a novel by Jonathan Franzen, Alfred Lambert & his son Chip face their failures to make these, the title of the book"
That was the $1,000 clue in the category "Books & Authors" on this past Thursday's episode of Jeopardy! So at least reading this gave me one trivia answer (question?)
I doubt I would have finished this had I not gotten the ebook loan during a week's vacation where my wife & I were at a bed & breakfast with a lot of reading time available every day (50% of this in <5 days! The other 50% took me 2+ weeks to get through).
If you like to read about interesting things happening to likable characters—this book is probably not for you.
If you like to read in short, small chunks, reading a few pages here and there with natural places to put the book down and pick it up again later—this book is definitely not for you.
If you get queasy when reading about a character who injures themselves, with several pages of gory details about open cuts or oozing blood—this book (at least a good dozen pages right around the halfway mark) is not for you.
If you get disgusted by scatological talk and find South Park's Mr. Hanky, the Christmas Poo offensive—this book with its scene of one person talking to an anthropomorphic turd is probably not for you.
There were a lot of signs pointing me to just abandoning this book—I remember months ago, after learning a trick where you can read a sample of an ebook before your library loan opens up, but I just could not get past the first paragraph no matter how many times I opened the sample and tried reading it. At the time, I thought maybe I should just cancel the hold and resign myself to never getting any Franzen trivia correct.
Even when I got the book, I had difficulty focusing on the words while reading on our hour-drive to the B&B...I believe I only read a pitiful 1-2% because store signs & other cars kept catching my eye more than the story Franzen was starting to tell.
But, I persevered—hoping this "National Book Award-winning" novel could catch my interest and be worth the 600+ pages... But it didn't. The only reason it's getting 2 stars is that, despite all the issues I had with the book, I was still able to finish it in 3 weeks before the loan expired. A 1-star book probably would have required my needing to re-borrow it.
Also, despite the long, meandering chapters that jumped back and forth in time, and covered so much history for these five characters that were nearly impossible to like, the prose itself was well-written and did keep me interested. I kept wondering how this "one last Christmas" would turn out & if any of the characters would have a change of heart/become likable.
The final 10 pages, an epilogue of sorts after the family's final Christmas together, tries to wrap up each character's arc in a nice little bow—but honestly, after spending 600 pages with them all, these 10 pages just felt like a slap in the face. It nearly bumped it down to 1* but I'll keep it at 2 just because I'm glad I'm done with this and can move on to other books.
Lesson learned—just because a book won an award does not mean you need to feel obligated to finish it if you're not enjoying it. Read what you like to read and let some trivia questions go unanswered...
That was a trivia question I missed earlier this year and what prompted me to add [b:The Corrections|3805|The Corrections|Jonathan Franzen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1355011305l/3805._SY75_.jpg|941200] to my Libby holds list. I'd heard of [a:Jonathan Franzen|2578|Jonathan Franzen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1563172476p2/2578.jpg] but never read any of his work, and barely recognized the name of this award-winning book.
"In a novel by Jonathan Franzen, Alfred Lambert & his son Chip face their failures to make these, the title of the book"
That was the $1,000 clue in the category "Books & Authors" on this past Thursday's episode of Jeopardy! So at least reading this gave me one trivia answer (question?)
I doubt I would have finished this had I not gotten the ebook loan during a week's vacation where my wife & I were at a bed & breakfast with a lot of reading time available every day (50% of this in <5 days! The other 50% took me 2+ weeks to get through).
If you like to read about interesting things happening to likable characters—this book is probably not for you.
If you like to read in short, small chunks, reading a few pages here and there with natural places to put the book down and pick it up again later—this book is definitely not for you.
If you get queasy when reading about a character who injures themselves, with several pages of gory details about open cuts or oozing blood—this book (at least a good dozen pages right around the halfway mark) is not for you.
If you get disgusted by scatological talk and find South Park's Mr. Hanky, the Christmas Poo offensive—this book with its scene of one person talking to an anthropomorphic turd is probably not for you.
There were a lot of signs pointing me to just abandoning this book—I remember months ago, after learning a trick where you can read a sample of an ebook before your library loan opens up, but I just could not get past the first paragraph no matter how many times I opened the sample and tried reading it. At the time, I thought maybe I should just cancel the hold and resign myself to never getting any Franzen trivia correct.
Even when I got the book, I had difficulty focusing on the words while reading on our hour-drive to the B&B...I believe I only read a pitiful 1-2% because store signs & other cars kept catching my eye more than the story Franzen was starting to tell.
But, I persevered—hoping this "National Book Award-winning" novel could catch my interest and be worth the 600+ pages... But it didn't. The only reason it's getting 2 stars is that, despite all the issues I had with the book, I was still able to finish it in 3 weeks before the loan expired. A 1-star book probably would have required my needing to re-borrow it.
Also, despite the long, meandering chapters that jumped back and forth in time, and covered so much history for these five characters that were nearly impossible to like, the prose itself was well-written and did keep me interested. I kept wondering how this "one last Christmas" would turn out & if any of the characters would have a change of heart/become likable.
The final 10 pages, an epilogue of sorts after the family's final Christmas together, tries to wrap up each character's arc in a nice little bow—but honestly, after spending 600 pages with them all, these 10 pages just felt like a slap in the face. It nearly bumped it down to 1* but I'll keep it at 2 just because I'm glad I'm done with this and can move on to other books.
Lesson learned—just because a book won an award does not mean you need to feel obligated to finish it if you're not enjoying it. Read what you like to read and let some trivia questions go unanswered...
sarahmoran27's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
emmiac's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I have to say CROSSROADS is still my favorite because the timeline was more linear. But Franzen’s writing is so thoughtful it didn’t bother me to change times.