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.