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A review by feverishriver78
The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History by Jonathan Franzen
3.0
Fantastic context for the inspirations behind Freedom and Crossroads. Difficult to digest in audiobook form, the memoir finally finds its rhythm when Franzen loses his self-consciousness and dives into his personal interests in the German language, in birds, in Peanuts. At its best, the memoir is intimately personal and startlingly honest.
In context of the fiction to come, I’m reminded of Chekhov’s saying that “most stories start on page 3.” Often, this memoir feels like a necessary throat-clearing (or record-setting) ahead of the novels to come (birthed from the same anecdotes).
In context of the fiction to come, I’m reminded of Chekhov’s saying that “most stories start on page 3.” Often, this memoir feels like a necessary throat-clearing (or record-setting) ahead of the novels to come (birthed from the same anecdotes).