Rating: 
Summary: Can't decide on this one either....
Review: Here's another Oprah book that I'm not sure if I really liked it. It didn't keep me turning the pages, it was more forced. I had to really read "hard", re-reading things to understand some of what was going on. Interesting family I guess. It didn't deal with Parkinsons the way I thought it should or could though. I don't know too much about it & I though this book would "enlighten" me, which it did to some extent. It just focused more on the "other" family problems, more than that, it could have been done better, if we saw it through the fathers eyes.
Rating: 
Summary: Not For Me
Review: This is a long read with only a few interesting parts along the way. The characters are not at all likable, which is what the author intended, I think. This book brings to light lots of flaws people commonly have. I don't enjoy reading about unhappy people with such characture-like unpleasant personalities. If you enjoy books with a very negative outlook on life, this one may be for you.
Rating:
Summary: I Can't Decide
Review: Firstly, I have to give the upmost respect and credit where credit is due; this man can write! There is no doubt about that. The author is incredibly talented and this book is brilliantly written.
Okay, the problem I found was that I almost hated this family, I mean really. God, sometimes I found them so pathetic it made me want to graon outloud. The mother is nagging and nieve and over bearing, the sister is narcasitic, the younger brother is a self obsessed and somewhat creepy guy and the older brother is pompous and pathetic at the same time, oh yeah and the father, well didn't much like him either.
The family is so [messed] up its staggering, maybe thats the point, I don't know. They never resolve anything, and they never become more likeable, maybe that makes them more real, I don't know.
I just can't decide how I feel about it really
Rating:
Summary: Not for the faint of heart, or the caring
Review: A book whose characters fail to get inside my head is always a disappointment. Dysfunctional families can be fascinating but this family fails to come up with one person who makes me care what happens to him/her. Some of the realities of Parkinsons are well and truly portrayed, but I kept reading hoping to find some crumb of insight that would be a hook. It was a Book Club assignment and to most of us it felt like homework. Some never finished it. One or two actually enjoyed it. I considered my completion of the read as a major victory in perseverence, but this story does not linger in my head.
Rating:
Summary: Too depressing to be good
Review: I really don't mind depressing per se. However, there has to be some redeeming value to the story to make it worth the effort of slogging through. I do not want to be left, as I was with this book, with the feeling that it's all pointless. That everything [stinks] and there's no point in trying, because it's all meaningless anyway. It is well-written, which is why I gave it 2 stars instead of one, but certainly not worth all the buzz that it has received.
Rating: 
Summary: So many GOOD books so little time - this book was a waste
Review: I just didn't get it either. It's almost impossible for me to not finish a book and I tried to hang in there with this one but by page 300 - I think after Alfred's hallucinations with the turd - I just thought, you know what? Life is short. There are too many good books out there for me to waste my time with this one that is trying so hard to be smart. Dear Jonathan, yes you have an amazing vocabulary and you know a great deal (of details) about a great many subjects and yes, there are even glimmers of brilliance in this novel but please don't try so hard to wow us next time. Just write something we can hang our hats on with some redeeming, likeable qualities in at least one of your characters and a plot that is cohesive and human. Your intelligence is getting in the way of a good story. I returned my book to a used book store for credit. The owner told me a woman had just come in and returned hers after stopping at about the same place I did and promptly throwing the book across the room. I didn't throw my copy but there were times that I actually yelled at it. No other book has ellicited such a strong reaction which tells me that there may be something there for me. I just don't have the time or patience to find it.
Rating:
Summary: I Have a Love-Hate Thing with this book
Review: When my sister visited me last month; she spent most of the weekend on the couch with this book. She read off some of the passages, and we laughed; they were so true of our own family. She warned me to put the book away when the family came, which illustrates the extent that the mundane aspects of everyday living can be the most taboo for a family. The book is all about family expectations and their dysfunctional effects. The book deals with a family grappling with the reality of their disappointments. The dialogue is biting, funny and some of Frazen's imagination is absolutely off the wall. But in general, I was disappointed. I really expected this to be great literature. I found the writing to be inefficient, wastefully silly in some places (although some of the silly passages were absolutely hysterical, like the elevator dialogue), and can see why there's an abridged version. This is in contrast to Frazen's wonderful New Yorker writing which made me want to read this book in the first place. Still, the book resonates; especially well done is the theme of ageing and impairment, as the father's Parkinsons' not only takes his toll on him and as it radiates through the entire family.
Rating: 
Summary: Smart and Hilarious with Just the Right Cringe Factor
Review: One of the best books I read for entertainment last year, The Corrections is much more than the sum of its press... If you can take it, that is! Ha! I kept getting this sinking feeling that Jonathan Franzen must have known my family growing up. Even so, each new chapter holds more surprises. I doubt I would want to know anyone who didn't enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven...A Masterpiece at times...at others, boring...
Review: I don't quite know what to make of THE CORRECTIONS, which is either being hailed as the best book of the year or an overhyped mess...I think it's somewhere in the middle. Franzen is undoubtedly talented, and the best parts of the novel are magnificently written. It's obvious that he has real ability and a lot of guts. The novel is certainly more ambitious than almost any other new fiction book, and it is filled with scenes that are either horrifying, heart-breakingly sad, wildly funny, or deeply shocking. On the other hand, much of the novel (which is far too long) is so slow-moving that I found myself actually skimming pages, something I hardly ever do. I couldn't help it; I was desperate to finish the book one way or another. Certain sections feel pathetically overdone--Franzen never gets tired of driving home the same points, over and over again. How dysfunctional these families are! How empty are their lives!, etc.; he seems to be shoving it down our throats. The best moments of the book are its most subtle. And, I also kept getting the feeling that Franzen is way too cocky for his own good; he's a great writer, but at times the book feels too smug. It's either impossible to put down or else dreadfully boring. I have to say, though, that the final chapter (ONE LAST CHRISTMAS) is absolutely gorgeous, and perfectly tragic. The final 100 pages are just masterful. However, they aren't enough to make the book a masterpiece in my mind...it still feels very uneven to me.
Rating:
Summary: My Book Club agreed...
Review: My Book Club agreed... that we'd rather poke our eyes out with forks than finish this book. It was disturbing, disjointed, unappealing and a waste of good money. A few of our members even returned their books to bookstores halfway through. However, it does make a handy door stop.
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