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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
dark
funny
reflective
slow-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
This is not for me. At all. I wish Audible did returns... :-\
Jonathan Franzen gives us another fun read with this book. He returns to the Midwest to portray the American family of the last 10 years. I could identify with his characters, was engaged by the plot, and looked forward to returning to the story each day.
I'm not sure how to respond to this book. I did like it, I did. It's just that I found him lazy as a writer - or not as crafty as others. He spent a lot of time telling me stuff via a journal the main character was keeping, but anyone can do that. I was looking for something a bit craftier, something to surprise me at the end - and it wasn't there. He spent 8 or 9 years writing, basically, a diary.
So, I wouldn't go so far as say it's the Book of the Decade, but Franzen can write and I enjoyed this book.
I'm not sure how to respond to this book. I did like it, I did. It's just that I found him lazy as a writer - or not as crafty as others. He spent a lot of time telling me stuff via a journal the main character was keeping, but anyone can do that. I was looking for something a bit craftier, something to surprise me at the end - and it wasn't there. He spent 8 or 9 years writing, basically, a diary.
So, I wouldn't go so far as say it's the Book of the Decade, but Franzen can write and I enjoyed this book.
There were things I liked about this book, but overall I got the impression that, since I am clearly not cool being a white suburban breeder in New Jersey, I should eliminate myself from his Earth so as to reduce the overall carbon footprint as soon as possible. Now to be fair I didn't finish reading the book. Perhaps his obsession with cool versus not cool and the insane tirades such as the one about famous people being Republicans because they promote capitalism (which makes no sense unless you read it fast and unthinkingly) are mitigated by the end of the book. I decided I had to stop punishing myself for having started the book and finished with the Wikipedia summary just to see how the conflicts played out.
In fact, the only thing I really liked in the book was an insight about depression that I found interesting: "Katz had read extensively in popular sociobiology, and his understanding of the depressive personality type and its seemingly perverse persistence in the human gene pool was that depression was a successful adaptation to ceaseless pain and hardship. Pessimism, feelings of worthlessness and lack of entitlement, inability to derive satisfaction from pleasure, a tormenting awareness of the world's general crappiness ... feeling bad all the time and expecting the worse had been natural ways of equilibrating themselves with the lousiness of their circumstances. Few things gratified depressives, after all, more than really bad news."
But I found the characters in this book unpleasant and generally without redeeming features (once again, perhaps they miraculously emerged as wonderful compelling people after page 444 when I found myself unable to continue). As a 9/11 book, I found it ho hum. I was really impressed with Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekran. It provided everything I needed to know about what a messed up war Iraq was from its motivations to its execution.
I wasn't clear about the tone of this novel. Was the idea of mountain removal to rescue the environment supposed to be ridiculously hilarious? Was he making fun of environmentalists by referencing increasing gloomy doomsday scenarios and statistics or was he trying to convince the reader to throw him/herself off the nearest cliff? Was there a reason that none of the characters could find the slightest joy in anything? Once again, maybe the last 150 pages were rapturously hilariously, enlightening, joyful, redeeming. I'll never know because I stopped caring.
I did like it better than The Corrections because the story was more interesting, but that's not saying much because I loathed The Corrections.
In fact, the only thing I really liked in the book was an insight about depression that I found interesting: "Katz had read extensively in popular sociobiology, and his understanding of the depressive personality type and its seemingly perverse persistence in the human gene pool was that depression was a successful adaptation to ceaseless pain and hardship. Pessimism, feelings of worthlessness and lack of entitlement, inability to derive satisfaction from pleasure, a tormenting awareness of the world's general crappiness ... feeling bad all the time and expecting the worse had been natural ways of equilibrating themselves with the lousiness of their circumstances. Few things gratified depressives, after all, more than really bad news."
But I found the characters in this book unpleasant and generally without redeeming features (once again, perhaps they miraculously emerged as wonderful compelling people after page 444 when I found myself unable to continue). As a 9/11 book, I found it ho hum. I was really impressed with Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekran. It provided everything I needed to know about what a messed up war Iraq was from its motivations to its execution.
I wasn't clear about the tone of this novel. Was the idea of mountain removal to rescue the environment supposed to be ridiculously hilarious? Was he making fun of environmentalists by referencing increasing gloomy doomsday scenarios and statistics or was he trying to convince the reader to throw him/herself off the nearest cliff? Was there a reason that none of the characters could find the slightest joy in anything? Once again, maybe the last 150 pages were rapturously hilariously, enlightening, joyful, redeeming. I'll never know because I stopped caring.
I did like it better than The Corrections because the story was more interesting, but that's not saying much because I loathed The Corrections.
I feel like I need to process this novel a little more before I make definitive statements about it, but overall, it was very interesting. And it definitely made me feel something. In some of the reviews I have read, people have complained that they did not care about the characters. Maybe I'm just a bleeding heart, but I definitely cared about the characters, flaws included. They seemed very real to me. The novel is beautifully written, if, at times, a little lengthy on the bird facts. I have mixed feelings about this book because it was very depressing on a number of levels, but it ended on a positive, redemptive note. Human beings are complicated and I love that Jonathan Franzen attempts to capture the complexities of human nature. I think I will remember this novel, even though I read new books constantly, which says something in and of itself. Very ambitious undertaking.
I’m having a very hard time summarizing my thoughts on this one, but I think that’s a good thing. As a whole, I think I appreciated this one more than I sometimes thought I did while I was reading. On the one hand, the flowing nature of the narrative, where one thought, event, moment flows seamlessly into the next, made it difficult to find natural places to pause my reading. However, this same structure is what made the characters’ inner and outer experiences so compelling; it mirrored as much as possible how we remember our choices, as inextricably linked to what comes next and to what came before. I also appreciated the way that Franzen gave opportunities to view the main cast of characters from different angles before diving into their individual (and very different) perspectives on the same series of events and timelines. Even if the choices the characters made were flawed, or outright cruel, seeing them recognize these negative motivations kept me from being able to completely distance myself from them; whether or not I wanted to, I at least understood them, even if I still disliked them (mostly Joey, I still really really dislike Joey). Did I come out of this viewing it as “The Great American Novel” like some of the quoted reviews stated? No, definitely not, but I did come away with a lot to contemplate, and in that way I think Franzen accomplished his goal. Overall, this was a solid contemporary, and at times painfully realistic, human drama, but one I would only recommend to those interested in the ideas it presents, rather than the story itself.
Ok, I liked the writing....very very unique but I thought the story and characters were unbelievable. Very long book, couldn't wait for it to end. Think Richard Yates does a better job at capturing the broken American dream/family.
Sorry Franzen lovers. Think this book is all hype.
Sorry Franzen lovers. Think this book is all hype.
I enjoy reading a story that takes place in Minnesota. The dinky town references kill
Finished this yesterday and have spent the last 24 hours lamenting the fact that I'm done with it. I so often walk away from fiction (especially recent fiction) very disappointed... not the case with this book.
Franzen is a gatling gun of insight. I could go on and on about his ability to develop a character through brilliant psychological exposition, how epic this story really is, how I couldn't put it down, but there are about a billion reviews of this book that already do all that and more.
Suffice it to say, I'm a picky reader. And while Freedom's themes hold some personal relevance, the book is a giant achievement. Don't let the Oprah Book Club logo or all the hype scare you away.
Franzen is a gatling gun of insight. I could go on and on about his ability to develop a character through brilliant psychological exposition, how epic this story really is, how I couldn't put it down, but there are about a billion reviews of this book that already do all that and more.
Suffice it to say, I'm a picky reader. And while Freedom's themes hold some personal relevance, the book is a giant achievement. Don't let the Oprah Book Club logo or all the hype scare you away.
This isn't usually my type of novel - I find American literature (the culture, politics and geography) very strange a lot of the time. I wonder if it's because it's so different Australia.
In any case, this is a very well written novel about a bunch of very unhappy people. Certainly not what I would call my style, but I did enjoy it. The autobiography sections were well written and I thought it was a very clever way to move the story along.
In any case, this is a very well written novel about a bunch of very unhappy people. Certainly not what I would call my style, but I did enjoy it. The autobiography sections were well written and I thought it was a very clever way to move the story along.