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sue_reilly 's review for:
Freedom
by Jonathan Franzen
I loved this book. It hit home with me. As a guilt-ridden depressive environmentalist liberal, I was among my kind. Or at least well-represented in Walter. Franzen recently wrote an article for the New Yorker on illegal songbird harvest in Europe, where songbirds are a delicacy. I don't know if Freedom got his inner ornithologist going or if he already had them, but as a former bird-bander and current frustrated environmental regulator, I have a serious crush on Franzen. I would like to have a cup of shade-grown coffee with him anyway. The cerulean warbler is a sexy bird in the birding community, and a rare one. It was the perfect species, and MTR was the perfect villain. For me the highlights of the book were the environmental issues, which seem to have been the low points for some other folks. Since I spend my workday working on the environment and my personal life as well, it was nice to read about someone else's internal struggles with these issues. Walter's frustration and exasperation are spot on. His self-hatred and realized hypocrisy are real. The bleeding through of the personal and political are true to life for all of the characters. I don't think Franzen was heavy-handed with the environmental dose because of its prevalence in Walter's thought processes, and I LOVED the introduction of the zero growth initiative. Genius.
Franzen captures the first decade of the 2000s perfectly. The political bitterness, the sanctimonious left, the profiteering right, the generally depressing mood. The destruction of everything natural, but its persistence also.
I think Franzen wrote some weak female characters. Patty was not sympathetic or really believable until the last quarter of the book. Jessica seemed like a whole person, but played a very minor part. While Richard and Walter were fleshed out and given real personalities, Patty was just not real. It was hard to understand what Walter and Richard saw in her. Connie was pathetic, as she was surely meant to be. I just didn't relate to the ladies in the book.
Franzen captures the first decade of the 2000s perfectly. The political bitterness, the sanctimonious left, the profiteering right, the generally depressing mood. The destruction of everything natural, but its persistence also.
I think Franzen wrote some weak female characters. Patty was not sympathetic or really believable until the last quarter of the book. Jessica seemed like a whole person, but played a very minor part. While Richard and Walter were fleshed out and given real personalities, Patty was just not real. It was hard to understand what Walter and Richard saw in her. Connie was pathetic, as she was surely meant to be. I just didn't relate to the ladies in the book.