Rating: 
Summary: An Intense and Complete Book
Review: This book is great. I found myself reading great chunks of it in a sitting, putting off other obligations as I came closer to the end. The remarkable achievement is how Franzen created such complete and fluid characters that he sustained and evolved over the course of the book. Franzen's insight into being human is so grand in scope as well as so focused and specific. He captures somehow the nuances of thought and rationalization in the face of the characters'actions and reactions. Most authors revert to lectures or pronouncements, but Franzen allows the characters to reveal themselves and their complexities without ever having to state them as precepts. I was amazed and moved by the scenes when he has the family together. The earlier scene when the boys are still young and Enid is pregnant with Denise, and the father has just returned froma an 11 day work outing, is the most amazing and complete and powerful and beautiful scenes I have ever read. That he was able to sustain it for so many pages and make it so compelling and believable overwhelmed me. I have not had such a powerful reading experience for a long time. With all the hype of Franzen's and Oprah's comments, it is disappointing that such ego driven foolishness might want to overshadow the book, moreso, that the media et. al. find this story more interesting than the book itself. In the end it is always the literature that remains for us and not necessarily the pettier side of the human need for wanting to be "special" and "unique" in the face of our fast moving and steam rolling culture. This book will outlast all the debates going on right now; it will out last the Oprah bookclub sticker, and it will outlast Franzen's need to set himself above the "low brow" masses because the book transcends all that to give a human truth about our struggles in this country and in this world as time keeps moving forward and we continually attempt to "correct" ourselves as we discover and learn.
Rating: 
Summary: This was AWFUL
Review: My mother-in-law gave this book to me. She left her bookmark where she had stopped reading. I had gotten a little further than her, thinking that this must get better with all the hype that it has received. It never got better. I can't remember the last time I didn't finish a book. If there is a next time I don't finish a book, I will remember this one! I have never written a review here prior to this one, but I felt compelled, hoping I could prevent at least one person from wasting their time and money on this drivel.
Rating: 
Summary: dysfunctional last supper
Review: for the sake of preserving his " street credibility, " jonathan has shot himself in the foot by dissing oprah's endorsement.why write books if you dont want them to sell? he sounds like one of those fashionably tortured rock stars who hate being famous....i read all kinds of stuff, not just the literary stuff. i admit, not all of oprah's books have been great, but she has picked some good ones...most writers would kill for the exposure jonathan has sneezed on. it's just average. who wants to read about a dysfunctional family's last dinner together. oprah did jonathan a favor
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely a worthy read...
Review: Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections" was a welcome change of pace from the violent, sex-obsessed literature that has saturated the market as of late. Here is a story that looks honestly at the lives of a dysfunctional but loving family. I actually laughed outloud in parts because it reminded me so much of my own family reunions. I don't know about anyone else who's read this, but I do know that this book really hit home with me. While the characters' actions baffle and annoy, they still manage to invoke pity and compassion... because I understand them. I've been there and I could really feel what they're feeling. Mr. Franzen is a heck of a storyteller, and I look forward to his next novel. He has found a place in my list of favorite authors, along with Sue Grafton ("A is for Alibi"), Anne Tyler ("Saint Maybe"), Christopher Jones ("Legacy"), John Irving ("Cider House Rules") and too many others to list here. Way to go, Jonathan Franzen!
Rating:
Summary: How Family Life Shapes Us
Review: Mr. Franzen is gifted with the ability to write of the extraordinary pain of conflicted family relationships and how they shape our lives as adults. This book is a "must read" for, among many reasons, an astonishing description of the manner in which the thought process is corrupted by Alzheimer's disease. This book continued to haunt me long after the last sentence.
Rating:
Summary: Am I missing stomething?
Review: The characters are not likable, the story is boring, the writing, repititious--and he wins the national book prize! I could only read half of it, then skipped to the end. One reviewer wrote the mother somehow "developed". From what I read all characters were stuck and obnoxious and narcissistic. No thanks. Wouldn't want to spend time with any of these people or the book.
Rating:
Summary: So so
Review: I like the idea of connecting emotional life with the irony of a Don DeLillo or a David Foster Wallace, but I don't think the writing needs to be so pretentious. Those who are bored with Corrections might want to take a look at Anne Ursu's novel Spilling Clarence. It has the pomo sensibility, but the sentences are crisp and the story compelling enough to read in one sitting. Of course it is written by a woman, so the ability to put feeling and intellect on the page isn't quite so buzz worthy.
Rating:
Summary: Universally relevant
Review: I've just _finished_ reading this book and enjoyed it very much. I believe many could find themselves (or their family members) in the characters or situations. Although my own family is not American I was very much able to relate to people in the book. I can't wait for this book to be translated to my native language so I can send it to my parents to read.
Rating:
Summary: The value of maintaining human ties
Review: OK, so I believed the hype and bought the book. But, really, I actually enjoyed it. That's not to say however, that "The Corrections" impressed me as being a truly great novel. Rather it struck a chord with me, and made some painfully acute observations both on family life and modern living in general. Most of the reviews I've seen in the press and elsewhere have compared "The Corrections" with Delillo's "Underworld", in that it's an evocative critique of modern society but done this time on a much more personal level. In my view, that's true, but I thought that "The Corrections" was closer to Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities" than "Underworld": whereas "Bonfire" seemed to encapsulate the emptiness and tension of the eighties, "The Corrections" takes that theme on but asks where we are now, twenty years later. Franzen does not have Wolfe's breadth of vision ("Bonfire" swept across social classes whereas "The Corrections" concentrates on one family), but his writing is far more accessible than Delillo's - I found "Underworld" utterly impenetrable and therefore alienating. So what of "The Corrections" itself? The story concentrates on the Lambert family: Alfred and Enid are in their declining years, stuck in the appropriately-named small mid-Western town of St Jude. Their three grown-up children are each struggling to come to terms with the paths their lives have followed and seem likely to take - all three are deeply unhappy. Franzen depicts Alfred's decline with sympathy and humour - yet I felt that Franzen was alluding to a decline in American society. Whatever old value systems there were have been replaced by modern commercialism and the pursuit of personal self-gratification. The old ties which maintained society are almost gone - Enid's struggles to get her family back together for "one last Christmas" are indicative of this wider malaise. The paradox is that all of the children see their family and especially their parents as an irritation and burden, and yet each of them is very lonely with nothing other than their family to rely on. Yet, I felt that Franzen, whilst describing this sense of decline in values, does not buy into uncritical nostalgia - scratch beneath the old surfaces and there were fundamental problems. Franzen does this by cleverly interweaving the pasts of each of the family members into the current narrative. For example, Alfred's past record as a father is not great - he failed to connect on an emotional level both with his wife and children - in his prime he was a cold and deeply angry man, ill at ease with his world. Enid regarded her marriage as deeply unfulfilling, and in many way continues throughout the novel to look upon it as something akin to a prison sentence. Infidelities and other human weaknesses abound - not just in contemporary life but in the past too. I think Franzen is dealing with myth and reality here - there was always a dissociation between the two. The classic victim of this is marriage - none of the characters in the novel have anything approaching what could be considered an "ideal" marriage or relationship. Perhaps one does not exist, but most people act like it does. This fragile institution just cannot stand the strain put upon it. So what's left? Franzen does not provide an easy or obvious answer. Perhaps individual self-indulgence and ruthless pursuit of material gain at the expense of maintaining deeper ties with fellow human beings means that we end up, at the end of our day, alone - there's no point in a rich social hermit. And perhaps Enid has it right in wanting to draw the family together for that last Christmas.
Rating:
Summary: MUST BE A GREAT BOOK . . .
Review: Well, first I have to say that I have not read the book. However, judging by the sharply divided reviews, I'm betting it must be a great book. Even the people who gave it one star, and said they hated it, were filled with passion about how much they hated the characters, etc. This only shows how well Franzen was at evoking emotion. I'll definately read this one. By the way, those who gave it one star probably hate any movie without a happy hollywood ending or that doesn't play at your local megaplex cinema...
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