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.