Rating: 
Summary: pretentious bore
Review: I was really looking forward to this book and wow was I dissapointed. I love books about dysfuntonal families and I certianly dont mind depressing books. That was not the problem here. What was the problem was his incredibly pretentious "look at me" writing. I had to literally trudge through this book as every page I got sick of his ridiculously overcomplicated metaphors and simles.This book is the epitome of what is wrong with literature today. Instead of giving a book of characters we care about it seems like the author is more intent on trying to impress us on his wordplay. Ya I get it Frazen youre smart.
Rating: 
Summary: Five stars is not enough
Review: What can I say about THE CORRECTIONS that hasn't already been said? I've read this novel twice now, and it is nothing short of a masterpiece. One of the best novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It's literary genius masquerading as a mainstream novel. It's the story of an extraordinarily humdrum family mired in their humdrum lives, doomed to mediocrity, to death, to the eventuality of it all. The characters are drawn with unnerving clarity. Scenes are structured with brilliance...take Gary's downward spiral for instance. A breathless, page-turning scene about a father's stressful evening with his family. Remarkable. I was stunned by this novel. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Superb, acerbic, ironic, and fantastic
Review: Jonathan Franzen scores. Most of my friends despised this book, or at least found it so depressing, "without a single character with a redeeming quality," so they said, but I really, really liked it. It's not a pretty story, it's true, but the writing, the characterization, the story line, and the social commentary are so spot-on that one can't help but stand in awe of Franzen's expertise. The Lambert family is coming not-so-quietly unglued. Alfred, once the rigid patriarch, stumbles around in the throes of dementia. Enid, his very angry but loyal wife, is trying hard to keep up appearances. The only daughter, a chef, is between love affairs and restaurants. Gary, the eldest son, is stuck in a difficult marriage made worse by his own depression. Most of the book is related from the POV of Chip, the younger son, a writer somehow involved with an Eastern-Bloc politician, but the machinations of that whole episode mostly went right over my head. Throughout the book, there is a sense of the author's savage wit and scathing opinions about - well, about everything.
The Corrections is vast and broad in scope, and in the hands of a less skilled author, it would have been a laughable hodge-podge. Franzen, however, has written a book of such stunning complexity, sadness, and social ennui that we can only stand back and applaud.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging, realistic, funny
Review: This was one of the best books I've read in awhile. That said, I definately couldn't zip through it in one night. The author tends to go on, but that's what makes it realistic: you're put inside the heads of the characters and really get to know them, perhaps also because they're mirrored in people all around us... The characters are sooo dysfunctional, but through small actions honorable, likeable and human. The stories are interesting too. I liked the underlying issues, how they're relatable: culture/generation clashes, being trapped by sexual freedom, relationship power-struggling, emotional repression, materialism, having it all, leftist idealism, watching your parents grow old... As for the reviewer who said that it left him depressed, I have to say that it made me feel invigorated. The book displays an understanding about people and their hang-ups that I found to be overall, wise.
Rating:
Summary: Saddening, realistic, and true
Review: It's a common misconception of many people to think that 'longer' books are more boring. While I don't doubt that some books are too long and, well, too boring, this book just didn't seem that way to me. In fact, I enjoyed its vast length because the entire book was such a long and complex journey through the story, revealing more and more subtleties throughout. Franzen paints a detailed and bone-chillingly realistic portrait of an American family and their journeys through life. He captures something-whether it's a bond that holds families together, a tie between relationships, or just the entire entity of the complexities and vulnerabilities of families in general-that is so unique and true. It's rare and startling when an author can actually use words to find something so deeply hidden in society, and Franzen does so easily in this book. I subtracted one star from the story because of the few unrelating parts in the story that, after careful analyzation, had little impact in the book, especially the Enid and Alfred cruise part. Franzen went into too much detail of a character that we never see again, and his long, wordy sentences didn't impress me in this part. However, review aside, this is a stellar book. I highly reccommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Devastating Surprise
Review: I love this book as only one can when seduced to laugh during her own evisceration. Is the Great American Novel recognized soon after its publication, or does time make that distinction? In my opinion, this is it.
Rating: 
Summary: depressed after I finished it
Review: The way the book is told is kind of confusing, the part about the parents I thought was slow and hard to get through, lots of technicalities that I didn't find interesting. I missed the storyline and the personal message of the book. The end was so depressing that I through it in the corner after finishing it and was mad at my friend for telling me its a good book. It didn't touch me like many other books have. Despite all this though it is greatly written in detail with lots of research involved.
Rating:
Summary: Big let down after all the hype
Review: Save your time and money. Expected more because of Pat Conroy's endorsement. Started off enjoying the story but Franzen couldn't seem to end a sentence or paragraph and it was difficult slogging through his endless prattling. After the "talking turd" I lost all interest in the book. Skimmed through the rest of it and am sorry I wasted my time. Too many good books and authors out there to waste your time on this kind of book. Pass it up.
Rating:
Summary: Holiday cheer for the entire family
Review: Ok, maybe not quite. To be honest, this is a hard novel to either recomend or disparage. Franzen is obviously a very talented writer and there are stretches of really funny writing scattered throughout the book. For example, Chip's adventures in academia, New York and Lithuania could have made for a pretty good book in and of themselves (if you like cheap but easy laughs). And the passages which document Alfred's descent into dementia are truly horrifying. On the other hand, the prose in a lot of the book is simply workmanlike - trudge, trudge, trudge forward - and to be frank, boring. I can't see telling someone to go ahead and try this book when when their reading time, like mine, is probably limited.... So, not bad but nothing really to write home about. If Oprah hadn't chosen this as one of her picks (incidently, did anyone even remotely connected with her show read it beforehand?), we wouldn't even be hearing about it now.
Rating:
Summary: Garbage
Review: Why would someone who has such obvious potential as Jonathan Franzen waste it on writing this depressing book? I kept reading in order to be pleasantly surprised but went away feeling a giant letdown. Overblown and boring with some fantastic bits stuck in randomly; but these bits are not worth ploughing through the rest of this overrated tragedy.
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