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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
By the "I really Like it 4-Star rating" I mean that I appreciated this book. I did not particularly like the characters, and some things made me uncomfortable, but I appreciated this book in a literary sort of way.
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Probably a 2.5 for me here until about halfway through. This is a book about a family of unlikeable characters who, once you look dead on at their humanity, you begin to understand and feel compassion for by the end. It is a work of literature that could be cited as a book to help readers understand and relate to the human experience, but you have to get through the first half to experience that.
What an engaging, intelligent, hilariously dead-on portrayal of a dysfunctional family! I couldn't put it down. Where was I when this book came out?! There were moments in this book when I literally welled up because I felt Franzen was reading my mind--only articulating it so much better than I ever could. Great stuff. Can't wait to read more.
This book should be taught in classes as American literature. Much of American "literature" is crap because we are a market economy culture that sells books instead of writes novels. The big sellers (the judgment apparently of what is good and what is not) are thoughtless and shallow explorations of why some woman or man cannot find his or her way (by this it is usually implied, cannot find a significant other) in a big scary metropolitan world. I blame Sex and the City and/or Entourage. Fiction, in many book stores is separated from literature...because even a consumer can recognize crap that is meant to be a diversion and fiction that will actually make you think. So, that said, The Corrections is an intelligent (and long) look at the deep dysfunctions of the American family in the middle to late 20th century. The pathology of this epic story is complex and convoluted...just like real life. Learning from fiction is tough, the Corrections is not a breezy read, but it is definitely worthwhile.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
How do you give no stars on goodreads? I hated this book. It has got to be the most overrated novel of the century... Everyone whined and I just didn't care.
starts slow, but don't give up! i think there's a bit of st.jude small town familiarity in all of our families, and it's interesting to see an entire family's story play out.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Sometimes Franzen's social commentary gets in the way of the narrative, true. He gets a better hold of this in Freedom.
Sometimes Franzen's social commentary gets in the way of the narrative, true. He gets a better hold of this in Freedom.
I must be a rube, but this book had very little in the way of redeeming qualities - some nice turns of phrase but otherwise superficial, unlikable, and more importantly unrealistic, characters and situations. Wish I hadn't wasted my time.