Rating: 
Summary: Hard core reality, brilliantly written.
Review: As a "matoor" woman of 58 raised in the Midwest, a member of the "working poor", and as one-half of a couple who doesn't understand why even though "we are smart, we aren't rich", it was gratifying to learn that at least SOMEONE recognizes we're here.The myopic Enid and I are sisters. The highly principled, stoic Albert and my husband (albeit, sans illness) are made from the same cloth. We have a "Gary" and a "Denise" and five more independent, self-reliant, contributing members of society who refuse to be "Dollys" in a culture of consensus mentality. Not EVERYONE has a hunky-dory existence. Some of us intelligent, well-educated people are struggling. Our children are far from perfect and struggling too. But we get up every morning, put one foot in front of the other, do the best we can, and hide our secrets behind forced smiles. I was awestruck by JF's ability to get inside our minds and speak our thoughts, fears, so well. The dichotomy between the parents and their baby-boomer children, the difference in priorities, each defining "family values" as it suits them from a smorgasbord of choices, no two alike. It's amazing that, in the end, each Lambert does the right thing. They are a family after all. God bless you, Jonathan Franzen, for writing a novel that needed to be written. Somehow I feel less alone knowing Enid is with me. For the rest of you naysayers, finish the book. Read and savor the first few pages. The writing is smooth as silk...
Rating: 
Summary: Infinite Jest it ain't
Review: The Corrections should enjoy positive comparisons with David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest while it can. Infinite Jest turns a frenzied, obsessive eye to the neurotic foibles that undergird American life, but Wallace tempers the microscopic attention with genuine affection for his characters -- he does not brutalize them. Not so for The Corrections: the truth is certainly here, but this book lacks the grace to render it transcendant or transformative. Its satire has the cruelty of high school pranks, and I would't have read it fuming had it hinted at some! any! depth. Studded with crudely and obviously cinematic references, The Corrections seems to be stealing thematic crumbs from DeLillo as well as Wallace, but the story and the writing are plain anemic by comparison. This book is lucky to be on Oprah's list, though it's out of place next to Toni Morrison's novels. I was determined to watch the end of the train wreck, though (rats, a contextual pun), but I couldn't wait to move on to Summer in Baden-Baden or My Name is Red or ANYTHING ELSE. Skip to the last 15 pages for some lessons in compassion and facing old age with dignity.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing Original
Review: On the third page I recognized his writing style mimiced the style Dave Foster Wallace used in his 800 page pontification, Infinite Jest.
Although Corrections does result in a novel, his priorities as a writer seemed be more in showing up Wallace in the world of hipster writers than they did in creating believable characters with a point.
I would have given him more stars if I thought his style and ideas were original.
Rating:
Summary: A Novel for Educated Grownups with a Sense of Humor
Review: I wanted to dislike this novel, to see through it and feel superior to it, because the author has been such a tactless snob and has made so bold as to compare himself to DeLillo. The fact is, I loved this book. I couldn't put it down. I laughed out loud. It has such a compassionate vision, such insight into the limitations and imperfections and weaknesses and cruelties of its characters. For people who objected to its subject matter: grow up. Read some great novels. Get used to the fact that life is full of moral ambiguity and missed opportunities. Have some patience with an author who's developing a story beyond the easy, the sentimental, the reassuring, the familiar. Franzen isn't writing chicken soup for anyone's soul. Bless him for that.
Rating: 
Summary: poorly researched story
Review: Good writing but poorly researched story. I lived for five years in Vilnius Lithuania, Lonely Planet calls the "New Prague" and the greenest old town in Eastern Europe.All this time I never met a local who ate horse meat, saw a driveby shooting, or any street or village named after a foreigner. Vilnius has the only statue of rock icon Frank Zappa in the world though.
The inaccuracies spoiled it for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Franzen's The Corrections (A Review)
Review: How hard is it for a family to get together for Christmas? It is hard, but not impossible for one family called the Lamberts. In the book, The Corrections, author Jonathan Franzen tells the story of the Lambert family and the events leading up to, during and after their last Christmastime gathering. Franzen highlights around 40-50 years of Lambert family episodes starting in the 1950s, leading up to the last Christmastime family gathering, and ending with satisfying conclusions for each member of what I consider a dysfunctional family. Unlike my opinion, the author sees the family as much more of a typical American family where anything could happen.
Franzen's writing style is crass as he reveals the inward thoughts and secrets of each member of the Lambert family. The mother Enid is a tired nag who cares too much about what other people think and seems to always be trying to impress others or trying to fit in to the upper-middle or upper class neighbors. Enid pushes for the last family Christmas in the family's midwestern hometown called St. Jude. The once manly husband and father, Alfred, has Parkinson's disease, whose health, is fading away fast. Alfred's thoughts are crazy as he fades in and out of reality and has a hard time doing even the simplest of things.
The three grown Lambert children have issues too. The oldest son Gary married into money, works at a boring job in some bank and he is accused of being clinically depressed by his manipulative wife. The couple and their three boys live in Philadelphia and Gary's wife does not want her or the children to go to St. Jude for Christmas. She can't stand Gary's mother mostly, so Gary goes alone to St. Jude. The middle-child, Chip, is an ex-college professor who was fired because of his involvement with a female student. He lives in New York City and his writing career and terrible screenplay is going nowhere as he lives off money he borrows from his sister. Then he lands this nutty but exciting website propaganda job in Lithuania. Chip makes it to the Christmas family gathering in the nick of time after an exciting adventure escaping out of Lithuania. The last born of the Lamberts is the youngest child, Denise, a divorced well-known chef. (...)
I think the book is called The Corrections because throughout the book, corrections are mentioned and made. The author mentioned corrections that were made in the stock market. After Chip had some life experiences, he made corrections to his screenplay and it became a success. There were many corrections in people's attitudes and personal lives throughout the book (like with Gary's change of attitude at the end). There are also corrections that may have been forced on the characters because of social standards and rules (Chip and Denise getting fired). I think what I can get out of this unusual book is that we all make mistakes, but we can correct them to make our lives better.
Rating:
Summary: A Well Crafted Stiry
Review: I enjoyed this book. I too am a lttle leary of a book
which has all the PR vehicles of the industry behind it.
The book did have some slow moments, but on the whole
Mr. Franzen's writing style was strong enough to carry
me through to a well structured ending. It was nice to
be put under the spell of a very fine writer.
Rating:
Summary: Too bad I can't go lower..
Review: I suppose that I have to give the author credit for well developed characters, even if they are self-centered, self-obsessed, petty individuals that inspire nothing but contempt. On a long weekend I was stuck with this book as my only read, at 3/4's through I found a good use for the book. I used it as target practice. If these type of people populate the author's life, I feel sorry for him.
Rating:
Summary: Forget Oprah
Review: Great book. Who cares about the spat with Oprah. Story stays with you, characters complex, irritating yet captivating. One of best I read this year.
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK!! Ignore the naysayers and the hype!
Review: In the midst of all the frenzied hype surrounding this book and then the ridiculous "feud" between Franzen and Oprah, the fact this brilliant novel really is THE best book of 2001 has been lost. Just ignore all this and READ it. Once I started it and got about 30 pages in I just could'nt put it down. Franzen just soars as he tells his story about the VERY unhappy Lambert family. Each section of the book is devoted to a member of the clan building to a final section in which there is an attempt to get the family together for one final Christmas. When I was not reading the book, I often thought of what could be happening to these people, that's how realistic Franzen's world is. You can tell Franzen is striving for greatness in the mold of Pynchon or DeLillo, and I think his book is just as good, prehaps quite a bit more accesible than those other authors. Still, this is demanding book that requires a lot of patience and concentration on the reader's part (but its SO rewarding). (...) Anyway, just read this, I cannot recommend this any higher.
|
