A review by davidewright_philosophy
Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen

3.0

Franzen's essay and speech on David Foster Wallace are must reads for DFW fans given Franzen's friendship and perspective on Wallace as a person and fellow author (I appreciated both much more several years after Wallace's death having read more about DFW as a person), and the Munro review is pretty thoughtful and I hope it inspired more people to check out her work. In general, I'd say I enjoyed the collection (even on a re-read) but not nearly as much as his 'How to Be Alone' book of essays, which is a top-tier essay collection from my point of view. While the latter collection is worth reading in it's entirety (with only one or two weak essays), I had to push myself to read all the essays here out of 'I must finish the book in it's entirety'-type duty feelings.