Rating: 
Summary: Loved it and hated it
Review: I have a real love/hate relationship with this book. On the love side, Franzen is an excellent writer, and for the most part, he keeps you interested and the story hums along. There are moments of extreme clarity and poignancy in the story...especially those involving Enid and Alfred. Alfred's parkinson is dealt frankly and unflinchingly.
But on the hate side, I feel like Franzen talks down to his reader and definitely comes across as superior. Also, some of the situations are simply too far-fetched and unbelievable (Chip's trip to Lithuania stands out).
Overall, I would say that I liked the book. I guess that Franzen on some level has succeeded on writing a book that is at turns frustrating, thought-provoking and compelling...all at once.
Rating: 
Summary: whoa Nellie!
Review: This is one of the best books I have read in a few years, since English Passengers. It's not often that someone can hash over the old family saga and bring up such fresh and human material. A friend told me that Jonathan Franzen went on a bit, but he is worth listening to and reading. On a more mundane point, does "mixed grill" really exist? Let's hope not.
Rating: 
Summary: Expansive, Undisciplined
Review: This book makes a lot of promises that it ultimately cannot keep. Franzen peers into some interesting aspects of culture, family life and behavior but ultimately leaves us with a rather shallow interpretation of all of them. The language is quite beautiful and the book is immensely readable, but the plotting is virtually non-existent and -- where it exists -- uninspired. At 568 pages, the novel displays a lot of breadth but a shocking lack of depth. Ultimately, we are left with simplicities like "Gary is afraid." This kind of thing is hardly worth waiting for. Three stars for the language and prose construction. Pleasant but quite overrated.
Rating: 
Summary: Life is too short to waste your time reading this book!
Review: Less than 200 pages into it, I just returned this book to the library and am thanking the good Lord I didn't spend [money on] it. ... But I don't like any of the characters so it is quite hard for me to pick up the book and find out what happens next - Because I just don't care! For the life of me, I just can't figure out why there is so much hype about this book. It's a bizarre read - which I enjoy - the likes of Toni Morrison, for one - but this book is just boring. ... Life is too short to waste your time on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Is it me, or am I missing the point?
Review: I'm about two-thirds of the way through "The Corrections," and, seriously, I must be missing the point. Granted, this is pretty wicked satire, and the characters are so thoroughly dislikable, I'm just compelled to read on to find out how they can further screw up their lives. In addition, I've got to give credit to Franzen's writing skills, he's sharp as a tack, creative, and very imagistic. But here's the caveat about his writing...it reminds me of Whitney Houston's singing. Now Whitney has a great voice, but she just overdoes it with all of those vocal gymnastics. Same with Franzen. I can just imagine the pleasure he received from twisting a phrase here, creating a skewering metaphor there. I guess what I'm trying to write here is that in terms of story or plot, I just don't get his point. Last night I read about how Alfred, in his state of dementia aboard a cruise ship, has an imaginary conversation with a turd...yes a turd!!... I'm not sure I'm going to finish the book, as I'm curious to move on to Empire Falls. I'm glad I didn't purchase the book...I borrowed it from the library. Do I recommend it? Probably not, but if you're curious like I was wondering what all the fuss was about, it might be worth skimming. In fact, I think I'll skim through to the end of the book.
Rating:
Summary: mediocre...yawn
Review: This book was just not that well written, despite the critical acclaim. Was an interesting read, believable dialogue. Parts of the plot were just boring and mediocre (Gary's adventures abroad), etc. etc.
Mediocre. Better than most of the stuff pumped through these days, is why I think some critics went ga ga over it. And not very funny either, despite the many attempts at both subtle and overt humor. I give it three yawns out of 5. And is this really what is considered good prose nowadays? yawn.
Rating:
Summary: WHY?
Review: I made it to page 80 and just couldn't go any further. WHY, oh WHY did Oprah want to honor this book? I gave it one star because the author knows how to put sentences together reasonably well. That's the only reason.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: This dreary book is one long chapter about slow, sluggish, dysfuctional family life. There are no chapter breaks which makes material as dull as this very difficult to read. I tried to get through all 568 pages of it, but decided life was too short and stopped at page 478. (So, see, I really tried to get through all of it.) This is probably one of the worst books I have purchased in many years. Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Succeeds despite itself
Review: "The Corrections" introduces us to the Lambert family, who take "dysfunctional" to new, satiric, levels. The plot, such as it is, centers on mother Edith's efforts to get her grown children home to the Midwestern town of St. Jude (get it?) for one last Christmas together before her husband Alfred loses control of his body and mind to Parkinson's disease. But don't expect much by way of linear storytelling - the author focuses on the details of each of the characters' lives in turn, weaving a tapestry of commentary on American family life at the turn of the millennium. I was initially put off by the author's ironic, hipper-than-thou attitude, and way he seemed to invite us to join him in condescending to his characters. However, I stuck with it, and found a surprisingly compassionate tale of how the characters became who they are, in the context of both the family system and the wider world, and what happens when they finally stop trying to "correct" their lives.
Rating:
Summary: My Generation
Review: There is a huge mass of people living in this country today who were brought up by parents who themselves grew up during the depression and World War II. This generation, of course, is known as the Baby Boomers. Their parents brought them up in a particular way--the only way they knew how--because they believed they were preparing their children for the difficult life they expected would lie ahead of them. But the parents were wrong. Instead, life became ridiculously easy for the Baby Boomers, with the almost incredible prosperity that this country began to enjoy in the years following World War II. With the freedom and leisure time available to them, Boomers have pretty much questioned everything they've been taught, including the way they were brought up. This big, sprawling, hugely ambitious novel attempts to shed some light on the subject. It is a story of these Boomers, now in or approaching middle-age, and the parents who raised them. It is loaded with superbly drawn characters, accurate and compelling dialogue, magical descriptions, dazzling wit, and it is completely engrossing. But, alas, it falls short of the lofty goal it sets for itself. It is the story of the Lamberts--Mom and Pop and their three adult children--and takes place over the last twenty or thirty years right up to . . . well, the day before 9-11. It is a huge book, 550 pages, and in general divided into three parts: the stories of the children's adult lives with a good smattering of their childhoods. Interspersed among this are big chunks of the lives of their parents and their travails as they enter a problematic old age. It's a family that has problems. The eldest son is a depressed borderline-alcoholic, tormented by his inability to exert any influence over his immediate family; the middle son is aimless, jobless and psychotic after a disastrous affair with one of his students; the youngest daughter is a sexually confused mass of indecisiveness; the father is demented and hallucinatory; and the mother is a manipulative control-freak. All of them act without any sense of morality, yet all are inexplicably and continually wracked by guilt. Before going any further it must again be stressed that this novel is a splendid entertainment. As mentioned it is loaded with wit and intelligence and it is often wildly hilarious. Clearly, the youthful author has talent oozing out of his pores. This is a novel that steams by like a locomotive and it almost seems like you're out of breath by the time you get to the end of it. But it is precisely at its end, when you begin to reflect on it, that you realize that not all of its pieces fit. Sure, it's a dysfunctional family, we get it. Dad was work-obsessed, demanding of himself and his children, but lacking in kindness and love. Mom's response was to get various small revenges against him, and attempting, constantly, to change him. To "correct" him, as it were. The children, particularly the eldest, adopt this habit of "correcting" those around them, with dismal results. The author gets this right: this is not atypical of American families of this age. There was discipline, there was sharp--sometimes unfair--criticism, and there were large expectations. These parents were not perfect. Mr. Franzen offers a classic example: the middle son, at the age of about eight, ends up sitting at the dinner table for three hours because he didn't eat his vegetables, and because his parents, warring with each other, forgot about him. This is good. The depiction of this family during the kids' childhood rings true. But the novel primarily takes place after they have reached adulthood, and their actions as they mature seem overly dramatic. All of them have periods of what can only be described as insanity. Chip, the second son, is practically catatonic, unable to function after his setback. Gary, the eldest, is out of touch with reality and morbidly depressed. Denise, the sanest one, is nevertheless incapable of developing a heterosexual relationship with somone her own age. Are the lives of these people really representative of the lives of most Boomers as they reach middle age? The answer is . . . not really. Most Boomers, perhaps after some stops and starts, manage to lead relatively normal, contented lives. These characters do not. (Also troubling, and completely unexplained, is their utter lack of any moral compass. And there is no mention of religion anywhere--an obvious oversight.) No, the novel does not go wildly astray, but it does go astray. It's just too far over the edge. Perhaps the reason for this is that the author, not yet forty, is simply not yet experienced enough to have pulled this kind of thing off. Again, he came close--a lot of this strikes remarkably close to home--but the failing here is that there is very little sympathy shown for the characters. Indeed, we are expected to detest Gary, and the last page of the novel is practically hateful towards the mother. And this is where the novel falls. Its lack of perspective prevents it from reining in the characters, and Mr. Franzen effectively loses control of them. They lose their realness to us, and the novel loses the chance it had to be truly enlightening. Superb effort though. Mr. Franzen is an extraordinarily talented writer, and deserves a tremendous amount of credit for even attempting such a difficult task. Perhaps in a few years, he'll get it more accurately.
|
