Review: How to Be Alone

Essays by Jonathan Franzen

Originally published in Books in Canada, 2002.

In How To Be Alone, Jonathan Franzen begins with a title that, were it not for the addition of Essays, would sound like some kind of guide to anti-social behaviour.  But what Franzen wants is to be out of step in a world where few people are asking questions, where we've given the cultural authority over to passive mediums like television.  He isn't comfortable with a digital age that allows access to a great deal while s...