Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, fun, poignant -- NOT the Great American Novel..
Review: I try to read Oprah's picks because I am not disappointed in her selections. Since I like a variety of styles, this novel was right up my alley. However, I don't like things being hailed as "The Great American Novel" because I think only time can really decide that. The wonderful weaving of the tale from each family member's perspective is delicious and does round the characters out well. I do think that his portrayal of the lesbian daughter was a bit off -- the whole sexual addiction and "tongue" stuff turned me off and seemed like it was a heterosexual man writing about lesbian sex from his fantasy view instead of pure omniscience. That is probably the only real criticism I have. He goes into depth on many things to show the complexity of the characters' thought processes and that is why this was worth my time to read and why Oprah picked it!
Rating: 
Summary: should have been pared down to 300 pages
Review: This novel started with a bang for me -- I was sucked in right away and couldn't put it down for a long time. I turned pages and shushed my husband with a fierceness I haven't felt about a new novel in a while. But then, to my disappointment, the book devolved, with the weirdly fecal-themed, inexplicably digressive cruise and the whole silly Lithuanian subplot, into an unreadable mess dripping with naked ambition and occasional flashes of genuine verbal brilliance. However, the last quarter perked me up again a little bit, because I loved Denise's story and character, and found that whenever the story focused on her, I was riveted. The other Lamberts seemed much less realized, not wholly fleshed out, as if Franzen's eyes were on the prize, not in his characters' hearts and souls... all in all, I didn't think this was a great novel, because its world and characters didn't haunt me after I finished the last page -- I got no payoff after sticking with it for all those 500-plus pages, because it ends with a whimper. However, it's an often un-put-downable read, and the guy sure knows a lot of words.
Rating: 
Summary: So this is the "Great American Novel"?
Review: (I thought "Bonfire of the Vanities" was the "Great American novel"... oh wait, that was a while back...)Of course critics loved this book. Descriptive sections were lush and sensuous, and it served up "hot" social issues (psychotropic medications, dot-com scandals, materialistic youth). And the plot does pull you along, if only in hopes that something comes out of it all.... When I was finished, I felt I'd wasted a chunk of my life. There's no complex idea Franzen's trying to convey here that couldn't be (and hasn't been) covered in an episode of "Oprah". A lot of decorative text, but not much substance. Forgiveness and love of family. Whatever. This thing's just oozing sexist, class-ist cliché... ambitious women are really lesbians, foreigners are corrupt scamps, black people are... well, they only figure in nightmares, I believe. Midwesterners are uneducated and tacky. Mothers only think about their families, and know nothing else of the world. Do you really need a 400+ page booster shot so you can remember to think this way? And I was annoyed by all the red herrings... characters who were described, and then immediately disappeared (the angry punk feminist! The steely woman agent with a helmet of red hair!). Dickens would have brought them back, but not Franzen. And so many plot lines going nowhere! Not in that unresolved "Infinite Jest" way, but in a slipshod way. This book needed an editor who wasn't awed by Franzen's connections. Who edited this mess?
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book...until the end..
Review: Never one for hype, I almost entirely avoided this book. That would have been a loss. "The Corrections" is a fun, witty, wry, touching and insightful (if somewhat snooty and let's-try-too-hard-to-be-LITERATURE at times) look at a modern dysfunctional family. The characters are all well-drawn and engaging. Most are sympathetic, even if their faults are huge and distressing. The only one who is not really sympathetic at all is Gary, the oldest son, whom I found repellant in the extreme. All in all, it's a fast, fluid read, marked by comic/tragic scenes, some very depressing, interesting insights into family dynamics and the events in our lives that tend to lead, inexorably, to who we are today. And, since I live in St. Louis as did Franzen, I like his thinly-veiled portrayal of St. Jude. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the end--too abrupt and quick. As if he got to the end, had all these disparate threads, and just hurriedly wove them together. Somewhat of a blot on an otherwise great book!
Rating:
Summary: Well Written
Review: The Corrections, after reading, was simply exhilarating. To see the amount of detail put into the family and their problems was breathtaking. It was an easy read to me and I'm sure that i'm not alone on that one. The way that Jonathan Franzen used the family to show the ways of a normal family. I knew exactly how the people in the family felt. The Lambert's, to me, felt like the typical family and I could easily relate. Chip and his problems with trying to find himself and find a job. How Denise went through so many different little obstacles only at the end to find herself. How Gary put up with his family alone to try to be there for Christmas. And most of all the way that Alfred and Enid went at eachother, and how they bickered. It was hilarious to see them fight. It was great to read how neurotic they were. Overall, this book was a good read and is well worth it. I recommend this to everyone. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: I think Jonathan Franzen has written a very good novel. Alternately funny and sad, this book has powerful multi-dimensional characters and a textured setting that come together in an entertaining, enlightening and important piece of literature. I was pulled into the story by the humor and dramatic tension and sympathy with these poor, mixed up people. I had trouble putting it down. I had to know what was going to happen next. Although some of the facts and exposition slowed the plot down, mostly it was well done and did not detract from the story flow. Recommended reading.
Rating:
Summary: more depth needed
Review: I think Franzen is a good writer as far as his writing of the English language. He had some good humor in the book as well. However, I thought his characters could have been more well rounded. There was little positive about his characters or his familly presentation. People are not like that - they are not one dimensional. I thought he could have given the book more depth if the characters and the family had shown more aspects of their personalities, had been more real and showed some caring and compassion. Relationships with others usually have pros and cons, positives and negatives and are not just negative. He could have shown more emotion between the characters if he had
given his characters increased emotional dimension. If Franzen's goal was to take a depressive look at an American family, looking strictly from the negative side, he succeeded in doing that.
Rating: 
Summary: surprisingly good
Review: I have to admit that when I first heard about the Oprah-Franzen turmoil I decided not to read the book. Franzen seemed pretentious. But after my boyfriend (who I consider very intelligent and who stuck up for Franzen from the start) read the book and told me I should, I surrendered and read it so we could at least have a good debate. There are times when the book gets long winded. There are times when I wanted to skip ahead or go back to a certain character's story. BUT I did love the book. It ripped open a lot of fresh wounds, as I dealt with a similar situation (the end) earlier this year. But it was life! I really felt that the way Franzen's characters spoke and thought was true to form. I could imagine these people. Some people probably don't enjoy reading this type of work. It's the kind where if you are lucky enough to connect and to feel it for some reason, you can't put it down. But if you don't, it has to be the most boring drivel on the planet. There is no real beginning or end, no big drama that carries the book. For me, I connected. I loved the characters (even if I hated them). I thought they sounded real. I enjoyed it. Franzen has a gift for capturing and expressing the most trivial aspects as not really so trivial. I thought that Alfred was particularly well fleshed out and believable. Almost too much so at times. But I guess that's the point.
Rating:
Summary: I just don't (didn't) get it...
Review: OK, so it's an Oprah pick. Woo Hoo... I picked up this book, because she said "this is the great american novel" What I found was, that I hated this book. Who are these people? Why are they so miserable? And why are they making ME miserable? The only reason that I even bothered to finish this long winded, trite piece of (...), is because I paid for it. I will say this, Mr. Franzen IS a talented writer. Perhaps it is to his talent that I did dislike these people. Regardless, this book just went on and on and on... I'm not really sure where it ended up. Don't bother, but if you must, go to the library or wait for it to come out on paperback.
Rating: 
Summary: Overly ironic, MFA writing program voice
Review: I write this review for my internet-challenged wife, who reads voraciously, but only literature. (...) She also has a rule that she always finishes a book once she starts or else she feels "guilty". She broke that rule with The Corrections. This is what she had to say about The Corrections: "I read 50 pages and put it down, and I was so mad because the author sounded intelligent and thoughtful on Fresh Air with Terri Gross. But his book has that stupid overly ironic, flippant tone of MFA graduates. It was awful. I am finding it hard to believe that it won an award. You can't trust awards." 'Nuff said.
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