A review by robk
Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen

4.0

Farther Away is a collection of essays and book reviews dealing with a variety of topics and written between the late 90s and 2011. I read this shortly after reading How to be Alone and while reading Freedom, and I must say that there is a great contrast in Franzen's thinking from the nineties to now. While I still think he's cynical to a degree, he seems far happier, or at least more content, today. Franzen's themes in this collection of essays seemed to be more centered on love and empathy than the callousness and curmudgeonliness of his earlier essays, though he still expresses many of the same concerns. Even though I haven't finished the latter, this paradigm shift seems apparent in his novels The Corrections and Freedom. I think Franzen's viewpoints are intriguing and his social commentary is valuable. I also think that his commentary on the purpose of fiction and fiction writing would be excellent material for any aspiring writers.