Freedom is a 2010 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen. It was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Freedom received general acclaim from book critics, and was ranked one of the best books of 2010 by several publications, and has been described as a "Great American Novel".
The novel follows the lives of the Berglund family, particularly the parents Patty and Walter, as their lives develop and then their happiness falls apart. Important to their story is a college friend of Walter's and successful rock musician, Richard Katz, who has a love affair with Patty. Walter and Patty's son, Joey, also goes through his own coming of age challenges.
Franzen began working on the novel in 2001, following his successful novel The Corrections. The title of the novel was an artifact of his book proposal, where he wanted to write a novel that freed him from the constraints of his …
Freedom is a 2010 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen. It was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Freedom received general acclaim from book critics, and was ranked one of the best books of 2010 by several publications, and has been described as a "Great American Novel".
The novel follows the lives of the Berglund family, particularly the parents Patty and Walter, as their lives develop and then their happiness falls apart. Important to their story is a college friend of Walter's and successful rock musician, Richard Katz, who has a love affair with Patty. Walter and Patty's son, Joey, also goes through his own coming of age challenges.
Franzen began working on the novel in 2001, following his successful novel The Corrections. The title of the novel was an artifact of his book proposal, where he wanted to write a novel that freed him from the constraints of his previous work. The cover of many editions of the novel includes a cerulean warbler, a songbird, for which Walter works to create an environmental preserve.
The unknown harm inflicted by people through love.
Franzen's characters make your heart feel heavier the longer you read them. The older they grow, the more psychological damage accumulates, and the more messed up they reveal themselves to be.
7 years on from my first read, and wiser in love than I was then, I now feel the claustrophobia, the futility and the hurt of this story with increased intensity. Sudden death. The pain of long love. Avoidance and anxiety. The futility of trying. The concluding chapters drew occasional tears.
Franzen did an amazing job constructing these characters and dedicating perspective to each. But the second half of the book becomes bogged down in characters engaging in political exposition in a way that becomes self-indulgent. Like, we get it, Jonathan - you prefer birds to people.
Overall, some of the characterization of the women does strike me as a little mean-spirited and the animalistic desires he argues for his male characters are a little broad-brush. But I'd still recommend this as a time capsule for the political temperature of the aughts and an entertaining tour of what various upper middle-class people were involved in.
I feel like Franzen researched me, my family and our neighborhood, for his opening chapter "Good Neighbors". This was a fantastic look into neighborly dynamics, truly amazing. Great writing.
As with The Corrections, I feel like every character was written about me. We all have different moods and thoughts and views, and each character embraced at least one of my traits.
Then the book became dark, important, upsetting, eye-opening, virtuous, clever and all those things that make a good story rich. Life got in the way, as it has a tendency to do, with the very real-like human characters, and humanity's best unique quality is in the strength of our emotional capability, which, in turn, has a tendency to really screw things up.
Franzen covers this ground skillfully.
Like life, this tale has its bright moments, and its necessary dark moments. The very last sentence of the very last page …
I feel like Franzen researched me, my family and our neighborhood, for his opening chapter "Good Neighbors". This was a fantastic look into neighborly dynamics, truly amazing. Great writing.
As with The Corrections, I feel like every character was written about me. We all have different moods and thoughts and views, and each character embraced at least one of my traits.
Then the book became dark, important, upsetting, eye-opening, virtuous, clever and all those things that make a good story rich. Life got in the way, as it has a tendency to do, with the very real-like human characters, and humanity's best unique quality is in the strength of our emotional capability, which, in turn, has a tendency to really screw things up.
Franzen covers this ground skillfully.
Like life, this tale has its bright moments, and its necessary dark moments. The very last sentence of the very last page redeemed and validated the darkest sections of this tale.
There are themes that I care about and wish others cared more about. At its' core, this is a "green" book, or at least as "green" as humans can get, (as far as I know - lots of issues, lots of solutions, give and take at every issue).
To go one further, the title, "Freedom" is so perfect and yet, open for controversy, like freedom itself. What is freedom? What defines freedom for you? Does your freedom interfere with the freedom of others? Is there really such a thing for humanity that could be considered freedom? I believe the deeper thinkers, after reading this, may reconsider the attributes that define freedom for humanity.
I don't think Johnathan Franzen likes people very much.
Franzen writes tlightly focussed character-driven social novels about families with problems. He is very, very good at it. Freedom, in particular, is about Walter and Patty Berglund, their friends, children, and neighbors, and all the various ways they make each other miserable.
The writing in this book is amazingly good. I could complain about serious narrative bog down after the halfway point, and I'm not especially convinced of Franzen's portrayal of Patty Berglund and her motivations (given that her autobiographical narrative takes up two-thirds of the book, that's a problem). But when Franzen writes well he deserves every accolade he's been given. The good parts of this book are really, really good.
But there's a sort of misanthropic archness to Franzen's that doesn't sit well with me. I don't have issues with the fact that all the characters themselves are terribly …
I don't think Johnathan Franzen likes people very much.
Franzen writes tlightly focussed character-driven social novels about families with problems. He is very, very good at it. Freedom, in particular, is about Walter and Patty Berglund, their friends, children, and neighbors, and all the various ways they make each other miserable.
The writing in this book is amazingly good. I could complain about serious narrative bog down after the halfway point, and I'm not especially convinced of Franzen's portrayal of Patty Berglund and her motivations (given that her autobiographical narrative takes up two-thirds of the book, that's a problem). But when Franzen writes well he deserves every accolade he's been given. The good parts of this book are really, really good.
But there's a sort of misanthropic archness to Franzen's that doesn't sit well with me. I don't have issues with the fact that all the characters themselves are terribly dislikable. It's that Franzen seems to make them dislikeable and to also make fun of them at the same time. The Corrections had this problem as well, although it was more muted and the humor was clearer (I loved the Corrections). The archness in this book seems meaner and angrier, and for me it makes the book less enjoyable to read.
I really like what Franzen does, I just wish there was less Franzen in it.
Shallow, bitter people leading hollow lives. Am I the only one reminded of [b:The Bonfire of the Vanities|2666|The Bonfire of the Vanities|Tom Wolfe|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1229439221s/2666.jpg|1080201]? Doubtful.
Like Bonfire, Freedom leaves me cold. Maybe it captures the zeitgeist of the 90s and 00s. Maybe it's the defining oeuvre. And maybe I'm just not cool enough to get it.
Well written, often poignant, Freedom just didn't seem meaningful. I haven't learned or grown from it. No moment of reflection upon finishing the last page, just a quiet "well, that's over with".
It's always hard to review a complete brick of a book (literally speaking), and this one is quite something.
Franzen has almost entirely adhered to the simple point-and-tell way of God informing the reader of what happens throughout the book, interspersed with a few character perspective moments.
Walter and Patty Berglund are a smart, suburban, modern married couple who are in turmoil and seemingly cannot come to terms with this. They avoid each other rather, avoiding their issues apart from when they fight, which is like a cold, staged play, reminiscent of Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" in some affects.
Franzen's main strengths are the storytelling, the parallel plots and treating the reader like an intelligent person. At the same time, the best bits of this book read way better than a very long episode of "Desperate Housewives", which it often reminded me of. At its worst, the book reminded …
It's always hard to review a complete brick of a book (literally speaking), and this one is quite something.
Franzen has almost entirely adhered to the simple point-and-tell way of God informing the reader of what happens throughout the book, interspersed with a few character perspective moments.
Walter and Patty Berglund are a smart, suburban, modern married couple who are in turmoil and seemingly cannot come to terms with this. They avoid each other rather, avoiding their issues apart from when they fight, which is like a cold, staged play, reminiscent of Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" in some affects.
Franzen's main strengths are the storytelling, the parallel plots and treating the reader like an intelligent person. At the same time, the best bits of this book read way better than a very long episode of "Desperate Housewives", which it often reminded me of. At its worst, the book reminded me of a very long, outstretched and bloated episode of "Desperate Housewives".
Some might say this book pin-points the human condition of relationships in modern-day western civilisation, and I'll say it does to a certain extent. Franzen is very good at writing matter-of-factly when it comes to describing human emotions which I think works to his advantage: the reader is allowed to think for herself/himself and the characters of the book come out a lot differently than if Franzen would have applied sappy adjectives throughout.
All in all, this is a big book, and I think its flaws and brilliance is part of what it's all about: people's inner worlds, as felt inside and projected outside. Highly recommendable, masterfully written despite a few lows, ending up with being one of the best fictional books I've read in a few years.
It's always hard to review a complete brick of a book (literally speaking), and this one is quite something.
Franzen has almost entirely adhered to the simple point-and-tell way of God informing the reader of what happens throughout the book, interspersed with a few character perspective moments.
Walter and Patty Berglund are a smart, suburban, modern married couple who are in turmoil and seemingly cannot come to terms with this. They avoid each other rather, avoiding their issues apart from when they fight, which is like a cold, staged play, reminiscent of Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" in some affects.
Franzen's main strengths are the storytelling, the parallel plots and treating the reader like an intelligent person. At the same time, the best bits of this book read way better than a very long episode of "Desperate Housewives", which it often reminded me of. At its worst, the book reminded …
It's always hard to review a complete brick of a book (literally speaking), and this one is quite something.
Franzen has almost entirely adhered to the simple point-and-tell way of God informing the reader of what happens throughout the book, interspersed with a few character perspective moments.
Walter and Patty Berglund are a smart, suburban, modern married couple who are in turmoil and seemingly cannot come to terms with this. They avoid each other rather, avoiding their issues apart from when they fight, which is like a cold, staged play, reminiscent of Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" in some affects.
Franzen's main strengths are the storytelling, the parallel plots and treating the reader like an intelligent person. At the same time, the best bits of this book read way better than a very long episode of "Desperate Housewives", which it often reminded me of. At its worst, the book reminded me of a very long, outstretched and bloated episode of "Desperate Housewives".
Some might say this book pin-points the human condition of relationships in modern-day western civilisation, and I'll say it does to a certain extent. Franzen is very good at writing matter-of-factly when it comes to describing human emotions which I think works to his advantage: the reader is allowed to think for herself/himself and the characters of the book come out a lot differently than if Franzen would have applied sappy adjectives throughout.
All in all, this is a big book, and I think its flaws and brilliance is part of what it's all about: people's inner worlds, as felt inside and projected outside. Highly recommendable, masterfully written despite a few lows, ending up with being one of the best fictional books I've read in a few years.
It's always hard to review a complete brick of a book (literally speaking), and this one is quite something.
Franzen has almost entirely adhered to the simple point-and-tell way of God informing the reader of what happens throughout the book, interspersed with a few character perspective moments.
Walter and Patty Berglund are a smart, suburban, modern married couple who are in turmoil and seemingly cannot come to terms with this. They avoid each other rather, avoiding their issues apart from when they fight, which is like a cold, staged play, reminiscent of Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" in some affects.
Franzen's main strengths are the storytelling, the parallel plots and treating the reader like an intelligent person. At the same time, the best bits of this book read way better than a very long episode of "Desperate Housewives", which it often reminded me of. At its worst, the book reminded …
It's always hard to review a complete brick of a book (literally speaking), and this one is quite something.
Franzen has almost entirely adhered to the simple point-and-tell way of God informing the reader of what happens throughout the book, interspersed with a few character perspective moments.
Walter and Patty Berglund are a smart, suburban, modern married couple who are in turmoil and seemingly cannot come to terms with this. They avoid each other rather, avoiding their issues apart from when they fight, which is like a cold, staged play, reminiscent of Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" in some affects.
Franzen's main strengths are the storytelling, the parallel plots and treating the reader like an intelligent person. At the same time, the best bits of this book read way better than a very long episode of "Desperate Housewives", which it often reminded me of. At its worst, the book reminded me of a very long, outstretched and bloated episode of "Desperate Housewives".
Some might say this book pin-points the human condition of relationships in modern-day western civilisation, and I'll say it does to a certain extent. Franzen is very good at writing matter-of-factly when it comes to describing human emotions which I think works to his advantage: the reader is allowed to think for herself/himself and the characters of the book come out a lot differently than if Franzen would have applied sappy adjectives throughout.
All in all, this is a big book, and I think its flaws and brilliance is part of what it's all about: people's inner worlds, as felt inside and projected outside. Highly recommendable, masterfully written despite a few lows, ending up with being one of the best fictional books I've read in a few years.
My first by this author, borrowed from Ann. I’d call it high-quality voyeurism snooping into the lives of some people struggling with modern issues, of which environmental conservation seemed the most relevant to me. I enjoyed it, but I’m not racing for his other books.
I almost wanted to dislike this book because of all the fanfare and over-exposure Franzen received - I felt like I'd read it before I had read it. Surprisingly and happily, I was mostly proven wrong. The brilliant observations and spot-on characterization of a certain American milieu kept me hanging in there when Patty and Walter were thoroughly exhausting and provoking me. Was relieved to finish it in a way. Probably not 'The' but certainly A great American novel.
This book would have earned five stars, but the end felt entirely disconnected from the rest of the book. It was inauthentic, and felt like it was designed to appeal to a movie going audience.
The rest of the book is brilliant, though I found the entire mountain top renewal section to be superfluous. It felt like it was crammed into the book so Franzen could expound upon his environmental issues; in particular, his devotion to songbird ecology. Personally, I'm a lover of birds, and especially songbirds, but even I found no value in the constant discussion of feral and outdoor cats, the populations decimated by our technology, and the destruction of habitats. This is a book about family, and when he sticks to that, Franzen delivers a virtuoso performance.
Slight Spoiler Below This Point.
In the end, this book is weaker than The Corrections, which felt like a perfect …
This book would have earned five stars, but the end felt entirely disconnected from the rest of the book. It was inauthentic, and felt like it was designed to appeal to a movie going audience.
The rest of the book is brilliant, though I found the entire mountain top renewal section to be superfluous. It felt like it was crammed into the book so Franzen could expound upon his environmental issues; in particular, his devotion to songbird ecology. Personally, I'm a lover of birds, and especially songbirds, but even I found no value in the constant discussion of feral and outdoor cats, the populations decimated by our technology, and the destruction of habitats. This is a book about family, and when he sticks to that, Franzen delivers a virtuoso performance.
Slight Spoiler Below This Point.
In the end, this book is weaker than The Corrections, which felt like a perfect novel about family. One of the themes that Franzen seems to be exploring on a consistent basis is the idea of the prodigal son, and I found the prodigal son of The Corrections (Chip) much more enthralling than Freedom's Joey. Joey and Walter's reconciliation felt forced (though, in all honesty, reconciliation can often feel that way.) Reconciliation, agreeability, and of course, freedom(more precisely, the excess of freedom), are the resounding themes of this book. The book mostly succeeds in exploring all of them in a fascinating and authentic way.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I didn't make it even a quarter of the way through this novel. (The only reason I rate it 2 stars instead of 1 is out of the guilt I feel for giving the lowest rating to a book I didn't finish.) I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I cannot suffer Franzen's prose. He's supposed to be one of the titans of modern American lit, and I have to struggle to keep myself from falling asleep after just one or two of his pages. I didn't like what I read of the novel--it was dull, cranky, and filled with too much depiction of the sort of suburban malaise that I find so incredibly cliched--but what I don't like even more is the fact that I can't even keep engaged in reading one of the most important authors of my time.
