Rating: 
Summary: Verry boring
Review: I am only half way throu this book and am struggling to even finish it. I ussually think Oprah does a super job on her picks but I can't imagine why she would pick this. Chip and Gary's stories are soso but wading through the stuff on the cruise with Enid and her husband put me to sleep. ... Shall I finish it5???? I'm glad I didn't buy it. I read It is up for yet another award!! HElp me.
Rating: 
Summary: Five more ways of being dysfunctional
Review: To (very loosely) paraphrase Tolstoy, all happy families are alike and all dysfunctional families are dysfunctional in their own peculiar way. The five major players here all have their issues, and the back stories (which are of varying interest) are all detailed here to lead up to a potentially explosive Christmas. I was expecting something shocking or outrageously over-the-top to happen, and nothing really did (unless you count the dad falling off a cruise ship and SURVIVING, for gosh sakes, in his already fragile state). The book has its tedious parts (unless you have a great interest in the railroad industry or the stock market) but there are developments here of great subtlety that I'm sure could provide grist for some interesting term papers in a college postmodern literature course (possible subjects: the role C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" plays in the narrative, and the developing similarities between Alfred and the oldest son, Gary, including the hallucinations and Gary's sudden interest in model trains). Not nearly as much fun as David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest", but at least in this book the ending made sense, unlike in "Jest". I give this book 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to four.
Rating: 
Summary: Needs a good editor
Review: Great writing, granted, and some wonderfully acidic observations about the human condition and globalisation. But I couldn't help but get the feeling he went overboard on the wordage. The power of the central story was diluted by unnecessary digressions into the lives of secondary characters (eg: Robin Passafaro, Sylvia Roth). The whole Denise section was excessively long and didn't ring true in any case. The Chip and Gary sections seemed far more authentic. My feeling is that Franzen has written three or four books in one and tried to sew them together into a clumsy, and not altogether convincing, narrative. Maybe he just needs a ruthless editor.
Rating: 
Summary: The Corrections.
Review: This book was a great disappointment to me. I had heard about it on Oprah's TV program when it was chosen as her selection of the month, plus it has been on the Ten Best Sellers List for a weeks. It was a depressing book to read. All of the characters are dysfunctional. I would not recommend it, don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: Not much to correct
Review: Within the first few pages of reading, I encountered a page-long sentence and almost threw down the book in disgust. "Who does this pretentious SOB think he is, Faulkner?" was my initial response. However, I stuck with it, and although I didn't acutally LIKE The Corrections, I was unable to put it down.Many of the other reivewers are right--there's not a lot to like about the characters, but Franzen writes them damn well (Enid could be my mother-in-law!) However, I didn't think papa Al was developed enough; I couldn't understand how he became such an emotional ice cube, and at the end of the book, it seems like he was somehow the one solely responsible for all the family's ills. But aside from that, why should this family be so dysfunctional? All the kids had it pretty good, had the standard upper-middle suburban privliges, but none of them could seem to get it together emotionally or financially. Anyway, there's a lot of literary mire to wade through here--little details that you probably won't care about--but it's ultimatley worth the wade. This is a timely, insightful novel that will make you think.
Rating:
Summary: The Corrections is GREAT
Review: Being a non-reader, I decided to join a book club and our first book was The Corrections-500 plus pages. (A lot for me)Once I started reading, I literally could not put down the book. The story made you both laugh and cry.
Rating:
Summary: Too old in West Virginia
Review: After reading some of the other negative reviews, I don't really have much more to add (I'm still trying to finish it), except that the book is too big, too heavy to hold. This is the first book I have bought that Oprah has recommended. I don't get the point. Think I'll go to the library and get one of Taylor Caldwell's books.
Rating:
Summary: Just Plain Boring
Review: I was eager to start this book after all the hype I have heard, but am now at a loss as to what all the hype is about. I am only halfway through it and am bored stiff. I find the characters boring shallow and unlikeable. I will probably try to give it another couple of chapters before exchanging it for another novel.
Rating:
Summary: I Hate to Rate a Book Before I Finish It, But...
Review: But...I simply couldn't finish it. I have an unspoken agreement with myself that if I can get through the first 60 pages of so of a book, then I'll finish it. I broke my agreement in spades when I finally gave up on this book after page 326. Now, this book certainly has some good points. First, I found it to be very entertaining in the first 150 pages or so. I thought it was very well-written, and I found the familiarity of the characters made it even funnier. I actually KNEW these people! Fortunately, they aren't in my family, so I could look at them without feeling the discomfort of reading about my own family. So, what went wrong? I just got tired of reading about disfunctional real people. You see, in my family, we don't treat each other with disdain, we don't go out and do stupid, illegal activities, and we all managed to grow up when we were supposed to. I got sick and tired reading about these morons, just as I get sick and tired of watching the same moronic behavior from people I know. As I said, I hate to review a book before I finish it, but I think the fact that I couldn't finish it says something about the quality of the story and the writing. A great writer doesn't waste words. J. Franzen wastes a whole dictionary full of words telling a story that leads who-knows-where. To embellish the ordinary lives of his characters he uses hundred-dollar words when a ten-dollar one would do. If you want to read a book in which every word counts, in which every word carries weight, in which the story itself is so engrossing you don't count pages and make deals with yourself to finish, then read "Seabiscuit: An American Legend." Now THAT'S a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: Did anyone except me find this book to be extremely boring? I love to read, but could only read 10 to 12 pages at a time, before putting it down. The characters are shallow, the story line drags on and on without going anywhere. Of course the family is dysfunctional, but dysfunctional can be fun and interesting......these characters are not!!
Even trashy romance novels can be more enjoyable than this book. The author's writing is very much like his character, Chip's.....Going on forever without getting to the point.
Most boring book I have purchased in years
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