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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
There are a number of fault lines throughout the book. An ill bent cold kept me home for two days and I read the majority of the novel in a pair of sweeping bursts. The characters oscillate into focus to push the narrative but feel, all too often, as just that: literary devices.
I am anxious to hear the reports of friends, one of whom, my best friend, suggested this enterprise. I admitted on our site for literary discussions that I encounter a vertigo when reading contemporary american fiction.
I am anxious to hear the reports of friends, one of whom, my best friend, suggested this enterprise. I admitted on our site for literary discussions that I encounter a vertigo when reading contemporary american fiction.
Kind of ok. Good writing, unique aspects to the story, but... I really hate reading about people who just have to figure out who they are and what they want in life so they leave their marriage. Blah blah blah.
I couldn't decide whether 4 or 5 but I went with 5. Started slow...
This book was painstakingly long and I somehow missed the point.
I started to read it, and literally would fall asleep every time I picked the darn thing up. Being a good reader, I was determined to trudge through the it. So, I decided to read some reviews (something I rarely do) and discovered that people either really loved the book or hated it. I was trying to have a neutral opinion, but was really frustrated with the story. The writing overall is good, the story line just leaves much to be desired. It was hard to make a connection to any of the characters, so I think about half way through, I put the book down and will not continue to read it. There are too many other wonderful books waiting for me!
My recommendation is: do not read it and look for something better!!!
I started to read it, and literally would fall asleep every time I picked the darn thing up. Being a good reader, I was determined to trudge through the it. So, I decided to read some reviews (something I rarely do) and discovered that people either really loved the book or hated it. I was trying to have a neutral opinion, but was really frustrated with the story. The writing overall is good, the story line just leaves much to be desired. It was hard to make a connection to any of the characters, so I think about half way through, I put the book down and will not continue to read it. There are too many other wonderful books waiting for me!
My recommendation is: do not read it and look for something better!!!
Listened to this. Unnecessarily long. Unlikeable characters isn't a deal breaker for me but unlikeable with nothing much interesting going on.... It's a bit too much.
I have to say I liked this better than The Corrections, but I seem to have a love/hate relationship with Franzen's books. As I'm reading them, it feels like I have to force myself to pick the book up and trudge through it. But once I put it down, I can't seem to stop thinking about it and analyzing it. It's as though in the act of reading I dislike the book, when I'm not reading it I find I really did like it. Actually, that makes me sound like one of his characters.
I loved this book. It hit home with me. As a guilt-ridden depressive environmentalist liberal, I was among my kind. Or at least well-represented in Walter. Franzen recently wrote an article for the New Yorker on illegal songbird harvest in Europe, where songbirds are a delicacy. I don't know if Freedom got his inner ornithologist going or if he already had them, but as a former bird-bander and current frustrated environmental regulator, I have a serious crush on Franzen. I would like to have a cup of shade-grown coffee with him anyway. The cerulean warbler is a sexy bird in the birding community, and a rare one. It was the perfect species, and MTR was the perfect villain. For me the highlights of the book were the environmental issues, which seem to have been the low points for some other folks. Since I spend my workday working on the environment and my personal life as well, it was nice to read about someone else's internal struggles with these issues. Walter's frustration and exasperation are spot on. His self-hatred and realized hypocrisy are real. The bleeding through of the personal and political are true to life for all of the characters. I don't think Franzen was heavy-handed with the environmental dose because of its prevalence in Walter's thought processes, and I LOVED the introduction of the zero growth initiative. Genius.
Franzen captures the first decade of the 2000s perfectly. The political bitterness, the sanctimonious left, the profiteering right, the generally depressing mood. The destruction of everything natural, but its persistence also.
I think Franzen wrote some weak female characters. Patty was not sympathetic or really believable until the last quarter of the book. Jessica seemed like a whole person, but played a very minor part. While Richard and Walter were fleshed out and given real personalities, Patty was just not real. It was hard to understand what Walter and Richard saw in her. Connie was pathetic, as she was surely meant to be. I just didn't relate to the ladies in the book.
Franzen captures the first decade of the 2000s perfectly. The political bitterness, the sanctimonious left, the profiteering right, the generally depressing mood. The destruction of everything natural, but its persistence also.
I think Franzen wrote some weak female characters. Patty was not sympathetic or really believable until the last quarter of the book. Jessica seemed like a whole person, but played a very minor part. While Richard and Walter were fleshed out and given real personalities, Patty was just not real. It was hard to understand what Walter and Richard saw in her. Connie was pathetic, as she was surely meant to be. I just didn't relate to the ladies in the book.
Outstanding.
The ease with which the author constructs dialogue and develops characters is amazing. There is *so much* detail that it almost seems impossible that it is not factual. The strengths and weaknesses of the characters are incredibly realistic and it is hard not to see yourself reflected in one or more of them.
Highly recommended.
The ease with which the author constructs dialogue and develops characters is amazing. There is *so much* detail that it almost seems impossible that it is not factual. The strengths and weaknesses of the characters are incredibly realistic and it is hard not to see yourself reflected in one or more of them.
Highly recommended.
I’ve been contemplating writing a non-fiction book about the follies of the middle class (plenty of autobiographical material included) for a while. The paradox of freedom of choice and still ending up living lives dictated by expectations—imagined and real—is just so fascinating.
I don’t need to anymore. Jonathan Franzen says it all in Freedom.
Despite the hype (which usually puts me off instead of getting me interested), this book is just what the praise on the cover says it is. It’s also the best book I’ve read this year and possibly in the top five ever. Eminently readable with no pretensions to ’literariness’, but still literary, challenging and so spot on with the observations of middle class lives. Very American, yes, but mostly so in the emphasis on Freudian child-parent relationships as a foundation for the rest of our lives rather than in the particularities of middle class life. Perhaps the middle class all over the world has been Americanized? In any case, Franzen is by far the keenest observer of the paradox I’ve ever read. Funny and sad, the book gives you laughs and brought a lump in my throat several times when the observations cut too close to my own life. I couldn’t recommend this too much. Read it!
I don’t need to anymore. Jonathan Franzen says it all in Freedom.
Despite the hype (which usually puts me off instead of getting me interested), this book is just what the praise on the cover says it is. It’s also the best book I’ve read this year and possibly in the top five ever. Eminently readable with no pretensions to ’literariness’, but still literary, challenging and so spot on with the observations of middle class lives. Very American, yes, but mostly so in the emphasis on Freudian child-parent relationships as a foundation for the rest of our lives rather than in the particularities of middle class life. Perhaps the middle class all over the world has been Americanized? In any case, Franzen is by far the keenest observer of the paradox I’ve ever read. Funny and sad, the book gives you laughs and brought a lump in my throat several times when the observations cut too close to my own life. I couldn’t recommend this too much. Read it!