Rating: 
Summary: No Stars! Skip it!
Review: This was a VERY long book and I regret the time I spent trying to find the point! It is a story about a bland,dysfunctional family. The characters are not at all sympathetic or interesting. Boring!
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, Oprah, I'm...uhh...Busy
Review: ...The scope of this book is enormously far-reaching. It is obvious almost from the start what a great amount of research went into this book. While I admire the erudite perfectionism of Franzen's novel, I felt it also took away from its emotional center at times. Franzen attempts partial omniscience on subjects as diverse as cooking and mathematics, chemistry and the Lithuanian historical landscape. While I admire his vision, I find over-researched and over-reaching writing (supposing, even, that Franzen is expert on all of his subjects) bombastic and disingenuous, and Corrections sometimes approaches those boundaries. Perfectionism can sometimes distract from the pure beauty of a single vision in its quest for comprehensive authority.
Rating: 
Summary: Which memeber of the Lambert family are you?
Review: I'm generally a non-fiction reader, but I picked this book up on the strength of a testimonial I overheard at the bookstore. Why is a story about the diverging lives of a mid-western family so engrossing? Because you'll probably recognize not only yourself, but maybe other members of your family in these perfectly crafted characters. You'll gain insight into what makes certain undecipherable personalities tick. Again, maybe even your own. I found each of these characters to be completely believable and interesting as Franzen maps out their differing viewpoints. Even if you hate certain characters, you'll _understand_ why they see the world the way that they do. (No small feat for any author to accomplish.) I burned through this volume rapidly, wanting to know what would happen next to all involved. Warning: you may be disquited by this book when it reminds you of your own life or some of the bad choices that you've made or idiosyncratic quirks that you wish you could divest yourself of. I have to admit that I was surprised when Oprah decided to make this one of her recommended books considering some of its saucey plot lines. For various reasons, many readers simply won't be seen buying an Oprah-related book. If you have concerns about the Oprah-taint, don't be put off at all. "The Corrections" is serious and excellent literature.
Rating:
Summary: You have to stick with it
Review: I would give this book 4.5 stars if that were possible here. Like many others here, I had significant difficulties getting past the early pages of the book. I too was bored and found little redeeming value in the characters. I was desperate for SOMETHING to happen. But unlike those who gave up (and I'm sorry, but you shouldn't review a book you don't finish) I slogged my way through and found remarkable beauty on the other side. I've been accused of being a fan of style over substance, but when the substance is such heartbreakingly real people in crisis, I was overtaken. If you find no redemption in a character like Chip, think about the mother who is trying to love him. Enid is one of the great literary characters as far as I am concerned (and coming from me, this is quite a compliment, as Enid is exactly what I do NOT want a character to be when I am reading) and this book is really her story. I only shy away from a five star rating because I do agree that it can be difficult to get started on. Ideally, this book would pull you in a little sooner. But otherwise, this is truly a "great american novel." Put it aside writers like Michael Chabon, Rick Moody and Michael Malone. Great American writers still exist, and I couldn't be happier.
Rating: 
Summary: Flashes of Illuminating Lite
Review: Although the author has a knack for observation and a hearty sense of the satirical absurd, you sense his distance from the world. My own feeling is that a theme is not enough. Our milieu needs sweep, some story siezed and shaken and wrung out. You have to admire Franzen hugely for not knowing what the devil to make of Oprah, and Oprah for reciprocating so adequately. So certainly do bother to read "The Corrections," but what the Novel needs is not successors to Updike but some big ugly marauding gorilla of a writer to seize the new century by the throat. Melville is still dead.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: A rich, thick indulgence into the lives of some quite boring people. Not much happens, and when it does, it's boring. I was truly disappointed. The best writing occurs in the first chapter, in a bit about a certain word that appears too frequently in the protagonist's own manuscript, and where he notes each of the word's frequent appearances. Hilarious. Other than that, totally, utterly, not worth reading. If you want to read a lengthy, indulgent, luscious novel, try Swimming in the Volcano by Bob Shacochas (sp?).
Rating:
Summary: In the End, Perceptive Skill
Review: One could develop quite a migraine sorting through these numerous and disparate reviews! I'll only add this: the powerful description at the end of this lengthy work, when Alfred steadilly crumbles from the horrific grip of dementia, made for a heart heavy. I had to take in almost a word at a time, it hurt so badly. The author displays great perceptive skill to capture and reflect the mysterious internal workings of such a ravaging disease.
Rating:
Summary: The Corrections: Let's All Sit Down to Nice Meal
Review: When Jonathan Franzen's novel, The Corrections, was chosen by Oprah Winfrey to be in her Book Club, the author told the people at her show that he'd have to think about it. Franzen had never seen an episode of her show, because he doesn't own a television, and he was not a fan of having the "Oprah's Book Club" corporate logo printed on the cover of every single book. Franzen, an independent writer, finally agreed to have an Oprah's Book Club edition of his book printed, but the majority of the distribution would not display the logo.
Franzen also made comments that were critical of Oprah, her show and her fans. In one interview, the author referred to some of Oprah's prior book picks as "schmaltzy, [and] one-dimensional." Oprah responded by rescinding her offer for Franzen to appear on her show, but did not remove The Corrections as the Book Club selection.
Despite the initial controversy, The Corrections, which also made the New York Times Best Sellers List, does not disappoint. Actually, the veritable media circus surrounding The Corrections is not unlike something that might happen in the book itself.
The story chronicles the lives of Alfred and Enid Lambert and their adult children: Gary, Chip and Denise. Alfred and Enid live in the fictional midwestern city of St. Jude. In their house, with its empty backyard and its lengthening shadows, we learn on the novel's first page, "the alarm bell of anxiety" has been ringing for years.
Alfred is a retired railroad executive who spends his time piddling around in his 'workshop' in the basement of their home while slipping deeper and deeper into the grips of Parkinson's disease. Initially, his character is sympathetic and harmless--even likeable--but as the novel progresses the shadow of a man Alfred is now reveals the man he used to be. His wife, Enid is a woman who outwardly seems to be trapped in her own life caring for an ailing husband and a home falling into disrepair. She seems to have a bad case of "empty-nest" syndrome and insists that everybody come back to St. Jude for "one last Christmas."
Communication between the children and mom and pop at home in St. Jude is problematic at best. Fired from his job as college anthropology professor after engaging in some very un-professor-like conduct, middle child Chip struggles as a startlingly unsuccessful play-write and contributes unpaid articles to the postmodern Warren Street Journal. His parents willfully mishear the name of the journal and proudly tell their friends he has a great job at the Wall Street Journal.
When we first meet Chip, he's a handsome but directionless deadbeat hipster with leather pants and a steel earring. Early in the novel, through a strange turn of events, he finds himself on a plane to Lithuania, leaving his parents stranded in his Manhattan apartment with his sister, Denise as the unwilling hostess.
Denise is one of the hottest chefs in Philadelphia. While she has had overwhelming success in her career, she has not had such luck in love. Her personal relationships take twists that would surprise any reader and, though interesting and pertinent to the story, this is the only laps that Franzen makes into the usual book club bourgeois. To quote words the author uses to describe Chip's floundering play: "...for a woman reading it, it's sort of like the poultry department. Breast, breast, breast, thigh, leg."
Chip and Denise's older brother Gary is a banker with a hideously beautiful wife and three adorable young boys. He has everything he's ever wanted--everything he ever thought he waned anyway. But, he isn't happy and his condition baffles him. He dulls his feelings with the liberal and secretive application of expensive alcohol and weekly meals of "mixed grill."
The family members seem to be mostly normal to begin with. They all have personal issues, but who doesn't right? However, the events that lead up to Enid's one last Norman Rockwell perfect Christmas Day are anything but ordinary. The novel captures it's reader right off and quickly sends you on a wild ride that leaves you sincerely hoping that the nice Midwestern family, that might have reminded you of your own at the opening of the novel, is like no family you never even meet in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the time it takes to read it.
Review: I cannot imagine what captured the attention of Oprah. Franzen's response is as strange as her interest. I thought this a thoroughly poor read and am sorry I kept going, trying to find out why it is being applauded everywhere I turn. I suppose because it is different. As we all know, different is not the same as better. There are many more deserving books to read. This is merely a suggestion, but, I recommend that you give this a pass.
Rating:
Summary: The first book I've given up on......EVER
Review: I am not one to give up on a book, I always read on, hoping to find a hidden treasure buried beneath the sand. When this book first came out, I almost bought it but I'm trying to cut back on buying hardcover books for a while, and thank God I did. I picked up a copy at the library, I am on page 122 and it is torture! For a few days now I pick up the book and as I turn each page I think "please....something happen!" and each page just continues to dissappoint with long, drone out sentences. Franzen seems to get great pleasure crafting every sentence into a "look at me write! I use big words! What a clever intellectual I am!" The characters are unlikable and miserable. And to top it off, they are BORING. The plot is tedious and uneventful. This book is pure misery with no entertainment value whatsoever. I agree with other reviewers to read the first chapter. If you don't like it, go no further! Life is too short and reading is supposed to be an enjoyable, pleasurable pastime. Boring, depressing, pretentious and on it's way back to the library unfinished.
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