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To properly review this book I have to separate the story from the writing. The story is good—rich with fully realized, complex characters. Topics are explored that are meaningful or of interest to me, topics I feel are important and germane to our society today. For those reasons I recommend this book to some.
For my other reasons I recommend spending your time curled up with something else. I can honestly say I don't know if I would have finished this book had I been reading the hard cover edition. I had it on my kindle. And thank God. I've never read Franzen before, but had heard good things. So I came in with an open mind full of optimism for this book. Sadly, I found the writing to be laborious and over-involved. From his style Franzen seems to be a self-absorbed writer who doesn't trust his audience. This book could've been 200 pages shorter were it not for Franzen's love of seeing his words spill on a page. Every theme—every important point—in this book is explained, laid out plainly. Then explained again. Then one more time just to be sure you understand what he's trying to tell you. He leaves no work for the reader—doesn't involve the reader in any way. The story is told, but I didn't feel as if I'd been invited along for the journey. In that way this book was a great disappointment. No one wants to spend 900 pages feeling like they're being talked down to. At least I don't.
For my other reasons I recommend spending your time curled up with something else. I can honestly say I don't know if I would have finished this book had I been reading the hard cover edition. I had it on my kindle. And thank God. I've never read Franzen before, but had heard good things. So I came in with an open mind full of optimism for this book. Sadly, I found the writing to be laborious and over-involved. From his style Franzen seems to be a self-absorbed writer who doesn't trust his audience. This book could've been 200 pages shorter were it not for Franzen's love of seeing his words spill on a page. Every theme—every important point—in this book is explained, laid out plainly. Then explained again. Then one more time just to be sure you understand what he's trying to tell you. He leaves no work for the reader—doesn't involve the reader in any way. The story is told, but I didn't feel as if I'd been invited along for the journey. In that way this book was a great disappointment. No one wants to spend 900 pages feeling like they're being talked down to. At least I don't.