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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
Franzen is a witty writer who can pen a beautiful sentence. His characters are rich and eccentric. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Probably the best book I read in the last couple of years. Mr. Franzen has an amazing way with words.
4.5 sterren! Cried, laughed all the feels! So funny! Zo heftig! Love!
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’ve had The Corrections for over 20 years now. Languishing on my bookshelf until its pages yellowed - that nondescript cover that vaguely reminded me of Family Circus still stuck out. I guess it was its reputation - a supposed great American novel, yet not something I could ever stick with. To my credit, it’s certainly not a novel for children, but my parents never paid much attention to what I read. I lived in that blissful state of immediate purchase since, after all, books were academic. Nevertheless, I could never stick with it. The life experience of a 12 year old isn’t precisely conducive to any sort of relation with the Lambet family, much less understanding them. What’s a boy to know about the primacy of keeping up airs, or the complicated love circle of a mistress to both husband and wife? Can’t expect much. I certainly failed to see the point of it all.
The most common point against the book is the idea that the Lamberts are unlikeable. I disagree. We are shown a deep, intimate insight into imperfect characters - human characters. They aren’t heroes, nor are they motivated by grand schemes and aspirations. They're in some ways simple, in others complex, and they act with missing information, denial, sloth. If a character is meant to be a person, why would you expect anything but?
The truth is that the Lamberts are a reflection. Where others point out their ugliness, I posit that this is actually the reality. Perhaps the most frustrating thing we do is deny - and that is all the Lamberts are. Denial of declining faculties. Denial of a changing life circumstance. Denial self and capability. Denial of depression and want. Denial of your own nature. Of course you would find these characters annoying - why in the world are they acting this way? Don’t they see how harmful it is? The reader as an observer is inclined towards this perspective, and that framing is what Franzen does so well in playing with.
The characters do, in some occasions, realize things about themselves. They aren’t completely blind to their failings - however much like real people, sometimes these failings are accepted. Some like being the way they are, yet also see that its maladaptive. The three Lambert children represent the different degrees of development. The character that experiences the most growth is who is missing out the most in the successes of life, while the most outwardly successful character changes nothing. From their perspective, why would they? It may not be a satisfying answer or a correct answer, but it is a common answer.
The structure of the novel follows the characters though various points of times. Flashbacks are often employed, change in setting generated by a character remembering someone else or a previous action - this sort of nesting structure and rapid perspective shifts maintains your attention, but can in some ways harm clarity.
The book is at times quite humorous, but I found that it blends in the depressive equally as well. The representation of dementia, what with the periods of confusion, the broken dream-like logic, the misapplied reason - it’s incredibly well done. It’s clear that Franzen is drawing on real life experience here, precisely translated to text. And yet the ending is the most melancholic, unfortunately true, thing of all. I’ll avoid details for the sake of spoilers, but the themes of the book are lovingly tied together in one final action, one final realization.
The Corrections is a book about human nature. Not the glorious ideal, but the banal life of the everyday, somewhat broken, family. A fun insight, yet not something inspiring. But I doubt it was ever meant to be.
The most common point against the book is the idea that the Lamberts are unlikeable. I disagree. We are shown a deep, intimate insight into imperfect characters - human characters. They aren’t heroes, nor are they motivated by grand schemes and aspirations. They're in some ways simple, in others complex, and they act with missing information, denial, sloth. If a character is meant to be a person, why would you expect anything but?
The truth is that the Lamberts are a reflection. Where others point out their ugliness, I posit that this is actually the reality. Perhaps the most frustrating thing we do is deny - and that is all the Lamberts are. Denial of declining faculties. Denial of a changing life circumstance. Denial self and capability. Denial of depression and want. Denial of your own nature. Of course you would find these characters annoying - why in the world are they acting this way? Don’t they see how harmful it is? The reader as an observer is inclined towards this perspective, and that framing is what Franzen does so well in playing with.
The characters do, in some occasions, realize things about themselves. They aren’t completely blind to their failings - however much like real people, sometimes these failings are accepted. Some like being the way they are, yet also see that its maladaptive. The three Lambert children represent the different degrees of development. The character that experiences the most growth is who is missing out the most in the successes of life, while the most outwardly successful character changes nothing. From their perspective, why would they? It may not be a satisfying answer or a correct answer, but it is a common answer.
The structure of the novel follows the characters though various points of times. Flashbacks are often employed, change in setting generated by a character remembering someone else or a previous action - this sort of nesting structure and rapid perspective shifts maintains your attention, but can in some ways harm clarity.
The book is at times quite humorous, but I found that it blends in the depressive equally as well. The representation of dementia, what with the periods of confusion, the broken dream-like logic, the misapplied reason - it’s incredibly well done. It’s clear that Franzen is drawing on real life experience here, precisely translated to text. And yet the ending is the most melancholic, unfortunately true, thing of all. I’ll avoid details for the sake of spoilers, but the themes of the book are lovingly tied together in one final action, one final realization.
The Corrections is a book about human nature. Not the glorious ideal, but the banal life of the everyday, somewhat broken, family. A fun insight, yet not something inspiring. But I doubt it was ever meant to be.
There's no denying it: Franzen does what he does very well. Reminiscent of Roth's American Pastoral.
Tijdens het lezen zwalkte het tussen 3 en 4 sterren. 3,5 dus eigenlijk. Waarom? Misschien omdat na Freedom en Purity de manier van schrijven me af en toe ook tegen begon te staan. Je mag het geen maniertje noemen, daarvoor is het te goed gedaan, maar waar Frantzen genadeloos relaties kan ontleden en je de personages één voor één van alle kanten hun karakter laat zien, begon de uitvoerige manier me ook tegen te staan. Net als in die andere boeken krijgen de personages veel kleur, maken ze heel veel mee (al is het maar in hun hoofd), is het ongenadig hoe hij de Amerikaanse suburbs beschrijft, en hoe dat desintegreert in de tijd. Dat is heerlijk om te lezen, maar uiteindelijk had het ook korter, meer efficient gekund, want aan het eind voelt het afgeraffeld. Het boek stopt niet bij het punt in de tijd waar het boek naar toe werkt, maar gaat dan nog even door en eindigt dan, met een soort opening naar de toekomst voor een van de hoofdpersonen die mij wat gratuit voorkwam.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Corrections is a weird book; but if you’ve had a look at the reviews, you’ll have already noticed readers’ contrasting opinions on it. I believe I bought this ebook for free and, after hearing good things about Jonathan Franzen, I had quite high expectations for it. The Corrections follows the story of the Lamberts family from the Midwest, each with their flaws, opinions and dysfunctional lives. The parents have entered their old age: Enid, the mother, worries much about impressions and social acceptance; Alfred instead only cares about enjoying a peaceful and uneventful retirement, though afflicted by Parkinson’s disease and a quickly degenerating mental health. The three adult kids now live away from home in the Eastern coast of the United States: Chip pursues a teaching and writing career but loses job after job, placing into question his anticapitalist beliefs; Gary seemingly leads the most normal and successful life, with a stable job and a family, and acts like it - until he starts doubting his own mental sanity and turning on his family; Denise is a talented chef haunted by her young self’s actions and undergoing an apparent identity crisis. The book follows the characters’ separate lives and their interlinkages: each section focuses around a character, using flashbacks to glimpse into past events that led to the present day and character traits. As Alfred’s health worsens and the children’s lives spin out of control, the family is forced by duty and by Enid’s desire for a last, perfect Christmas in their childhood home, to come together and face the people who they have become. This book is about many things: about family, about the self, about mental illness, the economy, sexuality, responsibility and repercussions. Franzen’s writing style is impeccable in his ability to explore so many topics and provide an insight into the characters’ minds. However, especially at the beginning, I found it very metaphor-heavy, while some chapters launch into near-complete biographies of secondary characters retaining questionable importance. The second half of the book passed faster, perhaps because of my preference for some characters rather than others, or perhaps because of the absurd turn the storylines take close to the end. Ultimately, I think Franzen succeeds in making the reader question his/her own identity and the factors that shape our lives and behaviour, though the story drags too long and sometimes in unnecessary directions.