Rating: 
Summary: I am starting to get my faith in modern fiction again...
Review: When I first finished this book I wondered how it was Franzen could describe my mother and some of my siblings so perfectly. I read this novel after reading Franzen's recently published book of essays. A lot of people either hate or love this book. I loved it. Those who hate it seem to think it is some book about dysfunctional families and are disappointed by the conclusion. If you read this novel as a character study, I think you will be let down. The book's characters are complex and beautifully written. However, the book, I believe, has very little to do with the characters and should be considered a social critique. I believe the book is not about dysfunctional families but about a dysfunctional family who is perfectly normal precisely because they are dysfunctional. I know personally the book would not have been nearly as clear without having read Franzen's "How to Be Alone" first.That is not to say I understand this novel completely. That is what is great about it. I finished it weeks ago but have been thinking about its themes since then. Also, I believe Franzen has unique insight and depth in a discussion of disability in American culture. Alfred Lambert, the elderly father in the novel, is a central character with a powerful, and I suggest, radical suggestion about disability. This is a definite must read.
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Summary: It's so sad!
Review: The Corrections is going to turn some people off by the sheer sadness of a fmaily that, on the outside, is smart, good looking, reasonably affluent and adjusted. The book's so damn good because it shatters the notion that if everybody just leaves well enough alone, everything will be just okay. It's also about what happens when one person, through the deferment of others, acts just any damn way he pleases. About the ills of constant, endless judgment. About the reality of sexual abuse, and how it recycles itself. About the reality of intelligence, and how it manifests itself into cruelty. About how traits that work well in men work not so well when passed into women, and vice versa.
Rating:
Summary: I guess they don't accept 6 star reviews.....
Review: Wow! This is a brilliant, unforgettable book in too many ways to count, one of which is its utter confidence in its readers. Franzen isn't going to make this novel easy either in content, structure, or style. He's going to trust his readers to keep up with him. This isn't a novel for anyone looking for a quick, light read. So what's so brilliant? *The language. I never went more than a page or two without encountering a memorable metaphor or image. And he isn't just showing off. The novel will have a description that functions like a flashbulb illuminating a previously dark room. The language is gorgeous but insightful at the same time. *The structure. The book resembles a symphony in five related parts, each of which has its own structure. The narrative moves gracefully back and forth through time. Events remain suspended in the air until we return to them later on. Yet each section of the book is different in the way the past and present are intertwined. *The characters. While it's not easy to like any of the characters, it's also not easy to dislike them. Even the least pleasant of the Lambert family members becomes understandable to us over the course of the story. With such understanding comes, one hopes, the sympathy that as human beings we owe to our fellow humans as they struggle with the pain and confusion and joy of living in our complicated times. The characters are despicable at times and laudable at other times, but eventually their plight is moving. The multiple points of view enable us to get to know the characters intimately, memorably. As a character study, this novel would be an overwhelming success, but there's even more to it than that. *The emotions of the book. This is not a book that presses our existing emotional buttons (see Sebold's The Lovely Bones). Franzen earns the emotional payoffs in this novel. When the threads of the stories are brought together in the novel's final section, I found myself moved by what the Lamberts were experiencing. Other readers have criticized Franzen's book for being heartless or "post-modern," but the power of the feelings his story evokes by its conclusion brought me the kind of old-fashioned satisfaction that the story-lover lurking within me craves. *The humor. This is a very, very funny book. Yes, the story of the Lamberts is serious, and, yes, the social commentary on our complicated times is withering, but Franzen's a very humorous writer. Some of the humor is satirical, some is observatonal, but much of it is simply word play. While not a "comic" novel in any sense, The Corrections is as funny as Richard Russo's work. *The social commentary. The novel satirizes the greed of corporate America in a myriad of ways, skewering the dot.com economic boom, the Westernization of Eastern Europe, the medicalization of treating the mentally ill, and the marketing of psychiatric wonder drugs. This background adds texture and depth to a novel that is basically a family saga, but it marks the novel as more ambitious and powerful as a result. We recognize the Lamberts, but we also recognize the world that shapes them. That ought to convince you! I haven't read a better novel in years. I freely acknowledge that this book isn't for everyone, but if you care about serious contemporary fiction and if you want to challenge yourself, The Corrections is for you. Bravo, Jonathan Franzen!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fantastic
Review: I am an English minor tired of reading classics in order to get any deeper meaning in a novel. This book was a great find. I had heard about the National Book Award and its other accolades but had no idea of the depth that Franzen takes in his writing. This profile of the American family strikes the reader so deep that they can identify the characters almost exactly with people in their lives. The author completely captures the chemistry of an American family and how it can go off course. I strongly recommend this book to anyone that is tired of modern day drab fiction.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT an easy read!!!
Review: I'm reviewing the book before I even finish. I really am enjoying the story. I've found myself laughing out loud at a family that mirrors my own dysfunctional household. However, I do have a problem with the writers overuse of the english language. I also think he got a bit to descriptive with the background characters causing the reader to become a bit confused. My dictionary got a good workout with this book
Rating: 
Summary: boring literature
Review: It took me about three weeks to read this book, to and from work on the subway, and each day I dreaded the experience but held out hope that it would have to get better. After all, Franzen is supposed to be the next great American writer. Well, it never happened for me, though I did get close near the end. Alfred is the only character who is developed enough for the reader to become invested in. His complexity is admirable. He is at once cold and caring, self-sufficient and completely helplessness, sympathetic and a jerk. As for the rest of this cast... Edith comes in second as far as a complex character. The children are too sketchy for the reader to care about their problems or feelings. In fact, that is the major flaw of the entire novel. Franzen spends so much time and energy on "good writing" - i.e., rich description, steep vocabulary, geographical significance - that he fails to entertain his audience. Now that I'm out of my college English classes, I want to read novels that are thought-provoking and fun! Unfortunately, this book just didn't live up to my expectations.
Rating:
Summary: Correction...This was painful to read!
Review: Although the author has a very proficient use of the English language, the long, drawn out individual stories are too much for me! I struggle just to read 4-5 pages a night when I normally devour books. It is slow and I feel as if the characters were overly explained and overdone. I want to shout, "I get it already" after delving into every minute of a character's life. I can see the human side here, but for heaven's sake....cut about 200 pages out of this thing!
Rating:
Summary: Extremely well written with a bleak outlook of human nature
Review: Franzen's book drove many of the readers in our book group away. I'm pretty ambivalent about the book myself. I'll start with the negatives. This is a book about the dysfunctional Lambert family with a capital "D" made up of the parents, Enid and Al in their twilight years, and their three grown children, Gary, Chip and Denise. None of the characters are likable. I can identify with parts of each of them, but I ultimately cannot root for any of them. The frustration that goes along with this fact is what drove so many of our group away from this book. I realize that many books deal with families in crisis. This is a good conflict for a book and most modern fiction seems to deal with these issues on some level. That said, I have a need to see something heroic about the characters I'm spending so much time getting to know. The Lambert's are so self-involved that they are consistently damaging those closest to them. The title of the book hints at some of the characters trying to make a correction or change in their behavior. This was the redemption that I was waiting for, but none of the characters save Chip truly deliver on this promise (and even Chip's change is tainted by another motive). The Corrections that the book refers to are about the families' failed efforts at change, not their success. Franzen is drawn to this self-interest in each of these characters but has little room for heroism. Maybe this is as it should be. As for what is good about the book, there is no denying that the writing is fabulous. The characters are completely believable. Franzen inhabits each of the five characters fully and with such care that I wondered sometimes if there were five different authors. Patterns in behavior are carefully flushed out, why one character sides with one sibling or parent against another is developed throughout the book. On top of all this family intimacy, Franzen also develops a nice snapshot of life in the 90s that touches on the stock market bubble, the rise and fall of former Soviet satellite nations, corporate greed and campus politics. I can easily see why so many people heralded his book as one of the best of the year. After getting to know his characters, I can also see why Franzen ran into trouble with Oprah with his comments about "high brow" literature.
Rating:
Summary: You can never go home again.
Review: It's been a year since I read this book. While it still lingers in my head, I am hard pressed to say anything really positive about the book. It reads too much like a soap opera. A Peyton's Place for the 90's, riddled with enough insecurities and neuroses to keep one turning the pages. At first, I thought this was one great send-up to the All-American family, but I've since concluded that it is just one person's worst nightmare. There were so many things that turned me off about this book. Living in Lithuania, I found his descriptions utterly absurd. I would have taken them as such had he not seemed so intent on making Lithuania into the ultimate basket case of Eastern Europe to drop Chip in, to reinforce the fact that he could never get away from the dominating presence of his slowly dying father. Gary was even worse. The addled older brother who demanded to the point of nauseating repitition that his wife Caroline come clean and admit she took the fall on her own account, not because his mother had called, disrupting a friendly game of touch football between her and the kids. After all, he witnessed the event from his secret chamber, a darkroom with a window. Then we get the sister. I forget her name. She didn't leave much of an impression on me, except that she seemed to be the only one who had her act together. Cleaning up after little brother. Seemingly on the right track, but then she too has her own hang-ups, her own twists of fate, and is just as much dominated by her father as is everyone else in this far-flung family, whose dear old mom so desperately wants just one more family reunion before dear old pop dies. Considering the current spate of such neurotic "Home for the Holidays" family fare, this is pretty good stuff. They are oh so beautiful! You can imagine all of them naked. Even dear old mom still has a figure after all these years. And, they eat so well. All the best produce from the local organic food store. But, underneath this facade of great health and great looks is the quentessential family rot to keep you turning the pages crisply to the end. It is certainly no worse than the moody "Ice Storm." It should adapt well to the screen, completing Franzen's coup de grace.
Rating:
Summary: Some people just can't handle reality, apparently
Review: This book is not for the weak, I suppose. Some people seem to be "upset" by it. That seems a very feeble response, to my mind. These are difficult people to know intimately, but I would not say that they are entirely unfamiliar. Franzen seems unafraid of the complexities that so many portrayals of family life either shy away from or reach for without grasping. I won't attempt to summarize what these are: he's a better writer than I. Read the book already.
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