The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen: My Journey Through the Best Books of NYT
Alright, the journey continues.
Just a reminder of my rankings so far:
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
So, Franzen. I’ll keep this short as we’re going to be doing 25 of these and nobody wants to ready 100 pages of me rambling. But as you can see from my rankings, I loved Jonathan Franzen. I am a huge fan. A Jonathan Fanzen, if you will. I went out and bought two more books of his (The Crossroads and How to be Alone). I cannot entirely explain why, but something about his writing felt very nostalgic to me. It was the first book in a very long time that wasn’t a thriller that I had a hard time putting down. It is around 600 pages, but I honestly never felt bored.
My criteria:
Pacing: Perfect for me. It’s made up of 6 novellas and they were all equally intriguing.
Language: I was pleasantly surprised with his writing style. I found his sentence structure to be fun and playful. There was humour, even though the story itself is rather dark. He has a way of playing around with words, sentence structure and plot that I felt allowed you to get to know the characters in a very unusual way.
Style: Goes next to language a bit, but I just really got along with his writing style. I found him easy to read, while still being able to tackle really uncomfortable themes. Not overly written, but also with just enough depth. Franzen is also incredibly ironic, which I love. He requires careful reading.
What was the aftertaste: I had a bit of book hangover with this one, and I’m still thinking about it. There is something very visceral to his writing that sucks you in, and I did cry a little bit at the end.
Did it teach me anything? Something I struggle with as someone who moved away from her parents is how am I going to take care of them when they eventually need it? This novel touches on that a lot. I’m not sure if it necessarily taught me anything, but it made me think about some things. I think he also asks the question “How well do you really someone?” whether it’s a spouse, sibling or parent, and the answer oftentimes is… not that well. There are layers to people that we do not see and Franzen exposes those layers very slowly over the course of the narrative. I thought it was quite interesting how he introduces some characters through the eyes of others before allowing you as the reader to actually meet them and perhaps judge them for yourself. Are you even able to, after that subjective first impression?
Other themes & topics:
Parental/palliative care
Dysfunctional families that still somehow manage to love each other even if they don’t like each other
Dementia and the trauma of losing a parent while they’re alive
Going home
Obsession with the all -American, apple pie -&- baseball -loving family and the embarrassment of not obtaining it
Women finding themselves later in life outside of marriage
Really interested to hear your thoughts either in the comments or at book club discussions. Have you read this book? Would you read it now? Overall, I just found this to be a richer story and reading experience than My Brilliant Friend and some of the other titles on this list I’ve read.
Next week I’ll take a look at The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, so stay tuned!
Happy Reading,
Bryanna