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Freedom
by Jonathan Franzen
by Jonathan Franzen
Scattered observations:
*Writers probably can't ever ditch certain fundamental aspects of their style. With DFW it's the slightly manic, ever-looping association of ideas as his brain connects his current thought to stuff you would never have imagined. Franzen seems unable to dodge the unevenness trap - brilliant for long stretches, interspersed with material that is either preachy, superfluous, or both.
*Less powerful than "The Corrections" because his characters are less universal. Arguably they are all stand-ins for Franzen's own concerns and insecurities. Which are not uninteresting. But neither are they super-interesting.
*Why are they all so uptight? Even when kicking over the traces, nobody seems to be having much fun.
*So much emphasis on life's constraints and limitations. A "great" book/author should leave us with a heightened sense of life's possibilities? (Should it?)
*Despite the superficially broad canvas, at the 400-page mark it feels really, really claustrophobic.
*Clear pluses - writing is smooth; invariably, just when you feel you'll never get out of a particular dull patch, Franzen delivers something that's not just good, but kind of awesome.
It's hard to provide a coherent summary. In its favor, "Freedom" is a very enjoyable read, it's structured very smartly (though this is obvious only in retrospect), and benefits from Franzen's ability to nail aspects of the culture with enviable precision. Its mixture of small-scale concerns (the Berglund family dynamics) with larger societal issues is laudable, ambitious, not entirely successful, but certainly a worthy and interesting effort. It does suffer from some of the Franzen tics mentioned above. The variation in quality (some characters are superbly realized, others remain flat), occasional bloating (Franzen's particular hobby-horses relating to the environment and population control get quite a workout), and restriction in focus (to a very narrow section of white, upper middle class intellectuals and their concerns) prevent it from being a great novel. There's also that sense of claustrophobia, bordering on joylessness, that hangs over much of the central part of the book, though this is mitigated somewhat towards the end, which was surprisingly powerful and quite moving.
It is, nonetheless, a very good novel. Franzen cannot be blamed for the extraordinary hype that it has generated, and it shouldn't be held against him. Though I don't think "Freedom" quite matched the brilliance of "The Corrections", it's still one of the best books you're likely to come across this year.
*Writers probably can't ever ditch certain fundamental aspects of their style. With DFW it's the slightly manic, ever-looping association of ideas as his brain connects his current thought to stuff you would never have imagined. Franzen seems unable to dodge the unevenness trap - brilliant for long stretches, interspersed with material that is either preachy, superfluous, or both.
*Less powerful than "The Corrections" because his characters are less universal. Arguably they are all stand-ins for Franzen's own concerns and insecurities. Which are not uninteresting. But neither are they super-interesting.
*Why are they all so uptight? Even when kicking over the traces, nobody seems to be having much fun.
*So much emphasis on life's constraints and limitations. A "great" book/author should leave us with a heightened sense of life's possibilities? (Should it?)
*Despite the superficially broad canvas, at the 400-page mark it feels really, really claustrophobic.
*Clear pluses - writing is smooth; invariably, just when you feel you'll never get out of a particular dull patch, Franzen delivers something that's not just good, but kind of awesome.
It's hard to provide a coherent summary. In its favor, "Freedom" is a very enjoyable read, it's structured very smartly (though this is obvious only in retrospect), and benefits from Franzen's ability to nail aspects of the culture with enviable precision. Its mixture of small-scale concerns (the Berglund family dynamics) with larger societal issues is laudable, ambitious, not entirely successful, but certainly a worthy and interesting effort. It does suffer from some of the Franzen tics mentioned above. The variation in quality (some characters are superbly realized, others remain flat), occasional bloating (Franzen's particular hobby-horses relating to the environment and population control get quite a workout), and restriction in focus (to a very narrow section of white, upper middle class intellectuals and their concerns) prevent it from being a great novel. There's also that sense of claustrophobia, bordering on joylessness, that hangs over much of the central part of the book, though this is mitigated somewhat towards the end, which was surprisingly powerful and quite moving.
It is, nonetheless, a very good novel. Franzen cannot be blamed for the extraordinary hype that it has generated, and it shouldn't be held against him. Though I don't think "Freedom" quite matched the brilliance of "The Corrections", it's still one of the best books you're likely to come across this year.
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Reading Progress
| 09/06/2010 | page 150 |
|
26.0% | "One of the few things I disliked about "The Corrections" was its slightly bloated quality. The problem is infinitely more pronounced in "Freedom". Franzen's prickly nature is a matter of record; where women are concerned, prickish might be a more accurate description. Loathsome characters can be interesting, but so far that's not the case here." |
| 09/06/2010 | page 300 |
|
52.0% | "Patty, Walter & Richard are so appallingly obsessed with their own navels, why should I give a s**t about them? Frankly, they deserve one another. Chunks that should have been hacked from this book: the appalling Richard-Zachary interview, teenage phone sex fantasy details, numbing statistics about population growth. (I wouldn't miss Patty for an instant, but I understand she fills a structurally essential niche)" |
| 09/07/2010 | page 400 |
|
69.0% | "What I'd forgotten about Franzen is that when he's good, he's very good indeed. Also, though he sometimes comes across as being contemptuous of his characters, this is actually a misleading impression. He nails their foibles with merciless accuracy, but is not unsympathetic. Probably because he shares their confusion about how to live a decent life." |
| 09/07/2010 | page 576 |
|
100.0% | "Damn you, Franzen! You were just toying with us. You had that perfect landing planned from page 1." |
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And I would love to see him write about pleasureExactly. Where's the joy?
Or he could just embrace his own curmudgeonliness and treat us to a full-blown laser show of laceration. Just go over the top at some point, one way or another.
I think my favorite part was Walter's cat-hatred (though that could be because it comes near my end and is thus uppermost on my mind).
Now I have to go back and read his article about songbird slaughter in that recent New Yorker.
"*Despite the superficially broad canvas, at the 400-page mark it feels really, really claustrophobic. *Clear pluses - writing is smooth; invariably, just when you feel you'll never get out of a particular dull patch, Franzen delivers something that's not just good, but kind of awesome."
I heartily agree with the above two points.
"*Why are they all so uptight? Even when kicking over the traces, nobody seems to be having much fun."
Every one is miserable in his/her own way in this novel, but I find the narration actually quite (acerbicly) humorous at times, e.g. Walter and the cat, the names he chooses for his NGO etc.
Great review, David. Now I need to read Corrections. : )
I'm jealous that you were able to clear the decks to read this one so quickly. I won't get to it for months probably & then with trembling and faint nausea, because Corrections was so good & this one won't be.*So much emphasis on life's constraints and limitations. A "great" book/author should leave us with a heightened sense of life's possibilities? (Should it?) "
Answer - no, Last exit to Brooklyn - no sense of anything but despair, and no change of getting out of Brooklyn either, but it's a great novel.
Amazing review. You really nailed all the things about this book, good and bad. When I read it, I hit a rough patch in the middle, where the politics overtook the story but his ending is so good that it makes me forget about it. Like a good boxer, saving his best for last to get the most stars out of us that he can.
I would love to see him write a tight 200-page character study.
And I would love to see him write about pleasure--the way he does, a little bit, in his essays (particularly on birding and on "Peanuts"). In these last two novels, his distrust of--or distaste for--pleasure is so emphatic... I get, even admire, his rejection of a culture of consumption built on the excessive seeking of pleasure, but good gravy.