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Interesting article from yesterday's PG about this author and more.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10321/1103775-44.stm (March 2012)
This book got a lot of hype which kind of made me want to read it, though I was not crazy about The Corrections. Then my friend lent me her copy, so I read it despite my reservations.
Like many books that I have read lately, I was not crazy about this book either, but the somewhat "happy ending" kind of redeemed Freedom. As with The Corrections, Freedom is about a dysfunctional, unlikable family. Given that the book seemed sooo long to me; much of the time I could not wait to finish the book. Franzen is a gifted writer; I just don't like his stories.
By the end I realized that maybe I didn't like the Berglunds because I recognized certain aspects of myself and those I love. Thankfully I and my family do have redeeming qualities.
"And TV: TV was like radio, only ten times worse. The country that minutely followed every phony turn of American Idol while the world went up in flames seemed to Walter fully deserving of whatever nightmare future awaited it." (334)
"He and his wife loved each other and brought each other daily pain...Each time he thought they'd reached the unbearable breaking point, it turned out that there was still further they could go without breaking." (345)
"...He thought about the heroism of his parents' having stayed together all those years, the mutual need that underlay even the worst of their fighting. He saw his mother's deference to his father in a new light, and forgave her a little bit. It was unfortunate to have to need somebody, it was evidence of grievous softness, but his self was now seeming to him, for the first time, less than infinitely capable of anything, less than one-hundred-percent bendable to whatever goals he'd set his sights on." (457)
Does anyone really have "Freedom" or are we all doomed to the same lives and mistakes as our parents?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10321/1103775-44.stm (March 2012)
This book got a lot of hype which kind of made me want to read it, though I was not crazy about The Corrections. Then my friend lent me her copy, so I read it despite my reservations.
Like many books that I have read lately, I was not crazy about this book either, but the somewhat "happy ending" kind of redeemed Freedom. As with The Corrections, Freedom is about a dysfunctional, unlikable family. Given that the book seemed sooo long to me; much of the time I could not wait to finish the book. Franzen is a gifted writer; I just don't like his stories.
By the end I realized that maybe I didn't like the Berglunds because I recognized certain aspects of myself and those I love. Thankfully I and my family do have redeeming qualities.
"And TV: TV was like radio, only ten times worse. The country that minutely followed every phony turn of American Idol while the world went up in flames seemed to Walter fully deserving of whatever nightmare future awaited it." (334)
"He and his wife loved each other and brought each other daily pain...Each time he thought they'd reached the unbearable breaking point, it turned out that there was still further they could go without breaking." (345)
"...He thought about the heroism of his parents' having stayed together all those years, the mutual need that underlay even the worst of their fighting. He saw his mother's deference to his father in a new light, and forgave her a little bit. It was unfortunate to have to need somebody, it was evidence of grievous softness, but his self was now seeming to him, for the first time, less than infinitely capable of anything, less than one-hundred-percent bendable to whatever goals he'd set his sights on." (457)
Does anyone really have "Freedom" or are we all doomed to the same lives and mistakes as our parents?