Rating: 
Summary: Competent for what it is
Review: Franzen's first novel, like his others, are competent page-turners, if often a bit long-winded--essentially mass-market paperback airplane reading material in the guise of neo-Delillo Literary Fiction. Franzen's gotten some good breaks in the press with the help of supportive publishers, editors, agents, and others. Which is also why the media hype surrounding him is spin, and he falls far short of the two writers he seems to most wish to be--Fitzgerald and Delillo--though if you compare him with his true peers, the Robert Ludlams, etc., he's a captivating read. Just don't read too much into it (pun intended)--it's not there.
Rating: 
Summary: The subtle St Louis of the Mind?
Review: Franzen's first novel, written before he was famous for tangling with Oprah. Apparently he got a lot of flack for being critical of St Louis and capitalism. Meanwhile the publishers were marketing it as a cold war thriller. The plot resembles a cold war thriller, and it seems the cold war is what Franzen is really criticizing. About three quarters of the characters of the story seem to have an internal plot going where they are the heroes of such fiction, though Franzen is deft in that he never actually says this. This in fact creates the cold war in which they live. The communist infiltrators aren't the Russians or Chinese, but the rarely thought of Indians. (The female antagonist is a distant relative of Indira Ghandi.) And the heat and humidity that join the St Louis and Indian psyches serve as a fascinating contrast to the chills of the thriller scenario the characters, are trying to fill out, though the hero of the novel, Martin Probst, engineer of the St Louis arch, is remarkably innocent. Meanwhile, St Louis itself comes to represent that rarety of Americana, a place whose History, that which Americans are criticized for never having on their own soil, has come and gone. The glory of the moment that was Westward Expansion has become urban decay and neglect, racial conflict, and civil corruption. Franzen tells the story of a community that is uprooted from itself, the 27th city in the greatest country in the world, and dwells on psychological realities that are at once 'fantastic' and mundane. A great read, but more complicated than it looks. It would make a good movie, but it would have to be directed by John Waters or David Lynch.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Losers
Review: I began this book intrigued by it's premise but with my guard most definitely up. I've seen my lovely hometown of Saint Louis become the butt of jokes and, in the eyes of many condescending east coasters, the epitomy on middle-american banality. I didn't want to experience yet another misguided characterization of my beautiful, beautiful city.
These fears where quickly allayed as I was drawn deeply into Frazen's intelligent and graceful prose. The author seems to care passionately about the fate of St.Louis and cities like it all across the U.S. The city's faded aspirations work wonderfully as the backdrop of one of the most involving, funniest, smartest contemporary novels I've read in the last decade. One needn't be from St.Louis to be thoroughly seduced by The Twenty-Seventh City. As for my hometown, there is a chapter early on in which Mr.Frazen describes St.Lou's rise, brief realization, and stunning decline. I have never read an account the captures the city's history so succinctly and with such heart-breaking honesty. I only wish all St. Louisan's and citizens of cities like it, read Frazen's book. Perhaps we can still salvage these wonderful urban places before it's too late.
Rating: 
Summary: intelligent, well-written, interesting
Review: I came to this by way of Moody, Wallace, Powers, and company, but Franzen is a very different type of writer. His prose is a lot less brilliant than the others. He's much more of a classical story-teller.It's the plot of this novel that gives it a bit of an edge. I can sort of understand how some people might find it dull, especially if they're looking for suspense, but this isn't that type of novel. In a way, it is the opposite of "magical realism": instead of using elements of fantasy to tell a realistic story, Franzen uses realism to tell a fantastic story, And he does it very well.
Rating:
Summary: Audacity! Humor! Intellect!
Review: I have never been to St. Louis, but Franzen's depiction of big-city decline, desperation and corruption is familiar (and compelling) to anyone who lives in an aging city in the country's old industrial belt. Franzen's audacity and confidence in sticking to this odd plot is stunning. The book is one of the funniest I have read in some time, and one of the smartest.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely mesmerizing
Review: I love Mr. Franzen's work and eagerly wait for his next book. If you haven't read any of his stuff I can unconditionally recommend both this one and Strong Motion. You might also pick up Walter Abish's How German Is It and Eclipse Fever. Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, incisive, timely
Review: I must say that I am very surprised by the several lackluster reviews this book received here, which is why I am anxious to add my own glowing endorsement. THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CITY is one of the most incisive and visionary novels about the strata of American society published in the past 15 years. It brings to life the economic, political, racial, and personal forces behind urban reform more vividly, and humorously, than any other contemporary fiction of which I know. Its investigations of gentrification in St. Louis, and of the incessant struggles and backstabbing between the city's power elite, seem to become more timely and topical with each passing day, at least if the present courses of so many American cities (including my own) are any indication. The fact that Franzen wrote the book in the Eighties, and that he centers its events on a wicked satire of nearly implausible foreign conspiracy and much-too-real American paranoia, only add to my admiration of it. As for Franzen's writing, I want to say that I don't think his style is any less 'brilliant' than that of his contemporaries; he just isn't compelled to suspend the novel's progress and tap us on the shoulder every time he is about to perform a stylistic trick. That is not to say that the tricks aren't still there. So much the better for the astute reader anyway, because here you will find consistently strong, funny, and surprising writing that advances the book's story and characters throughout. It's a read that amazingly satisfies our desires for entertainment and intellectual stimulation simultaneously.
Rating: 
Summary: intriguing, yet hard to follow
Review: I picked up this novel with great interest, due to the fact that I am very familiar with the St. Louis area. The descriptions of the city were right on, however, the relationships of the characters became very muddled as the novel went on. Also, of what did the mystery consist?
Rating:
Summary: Don't Go There
Review: I read this book because (1) I absolutely loved "The Corrections" and (2) I am originally from St. Louis.
Had (1) and (2) not existed for me, I would have never made it through "The Twenty-Seventh City".
If you loved "The Corrections" and are looking for more of the same, do not stop here. This book doesn't have anywhere near the poignancy or relevance that so beautifully marks "The Corrections". If you are from St. Louis and want to read something that (finally!) portrays life in one of the greatest and underrated American cities, don't stop here. You will not recognize the town portrayed in "Twenty-Seventh City".
Beyond what drew me to this book, there was little redeeming value. It's evident that Franzen has talent, yet at the same time, it is evident that talent is as of yet fully developed. The novel is overblown and underdeveloped. The story contains so many characters that it is difficult or impossible to ever really get to know (or even care about) any of them.
The plot(s) meander, sometimes aimlessly, through hundreds of pages of cloudy anti-climactic exposition. Some are better than others. The kidnapping of a midwestern housewife, and how that completely liberates her, should have been the hallmark of this story, but receives way too little development. The rise to power of a semi-corrupt female Indian police chief is tiresome and heavy-handed. The writing is good enough, but without substance or cohesion.
If you are interested in St. Louis, you'd get a better picture just going there. There is little to no mention or development of life on The Hill, of Soulard, U-City Loop, of WashU, no real tribute to the VP fair, the influence of Anheiseur-Busch, the great sporting franchises, or of the tight-knit impenetrable St. Louis circles, from blue collar to high society.
And if you are interested in the work of Jonathan Franzen, just read "The Corrections". And then re-read it before visiting "The Twenty-Seventh City".
Rating:
Summary: Well done first novel
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Jonathan Franzen's first novel about his home town of St. Louis. The fabulously corrupt S. Jammu is a well drawn character. One only wishes there were more of her in the novel and fewer dreary boardroom scenes. I confess that the technical talk about real estate, stock values, etc, was a bit over my head. Franzen is a master of character development. I especially enjoyed the scenes told from the perspective of the philandering Rolf Ripley. Also excellent: the paranoid General Norris, particularly in his activities with Pokorny, his hired P.I. This book does seem to drag a bit in the middle, but the last fifty pages were thrilling. As a native of Buffalo, NY, another failing urban area, I was interested in reading about another second rate city and it's problems.
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