books not like this?

[Tom]

i read this novel, and I disliked it's cold clinical tone and emptiness of the characters. Are there any good novels that are the complete opposite to this? IE, warm, emotional, passionate.

[[deleted user]]

Isn't that interesting. Maybe there's a difference in our ages? Or family backgrounds. I loved this book. For one thing, it gave me such insight into not just the unreliable jumble that my father's mind (in real life) has become, but also that that's compounded by his own humiliation over his mental state. I didn't find the characters empty, but I did find that each of them accommodated themselves to the demands made around them. I've spent my life accommodating myself to a family out of control, and it's just subsiding. But we all had to be somewhat distant and "clinical" (a good word for it) to avoid being personally injured by the bad behavior around us. So, and this is so personal, and has nothing to do with your reaction to the book, but it was a learning experience for me as I try to shed protective behaviors and come out as my own person. I'm very, very old to be starting that particular exercise! So this helped me. So I guess different books serve different purposes.

Do you like modern writers in general? Or older works? Just wondering.

I'm somewhat new to Franzen. Have you tried Jonathan Lethem? Fascinating. Loved "Motherless Brooklyn" and, most of all, "Chronic City." Others I appreciated but wasn't as moved by.

[Tom]

I had very mixed feelings about the book and have spent the years since I read it wondering if I liked it or not. I feel there's a trend in modern novels to critique the soullessness of modern life while not offering solutions or reasons to go on but reveling in the coldness ,while other more escapist books I like make life more worth living by adding magic to the world. I very much admired franzens accurate portrait of a family like mine but thought the time it was like admiring a well designed prison without wanting to be in it. I found alot of the book a chore to get through but it did have vital things to say about society. I guess I prefer to face up to some of these issues in non fiction than novels. My own family was eeriely similar and while I respect franzen for the accuracy I didn't really enjoy a lot of it and I felt he dashed off their "redemptions" too quickly without letting us feel their new happiness or at least hope for improvement.

[[deleted user]]

Tom wrote: "I had very mixed feelings about the book and have spent the years since I read it wondering if I liked it or not. I feel there's a trend in modern novels to critique the soullessness of modern life..."

I know exactly what you mean. Fortunately, both my parents went nuts at the same time, so they really didn't have to accommodate each other, and my mother's dead. Don't hold your breath for the survivors' happiness or improvement, it's a long, uphill road to literally listen to each tape loop play in your head and correct the narration, remember that it came from someone unbalanced, so the reaction of the person on the receiving end needs to be explored and changed. I really do think at this time in my life, it helped to look at another family, not my own, and practice some new thought patterns. I admired the son who ran off to Europe. I'm not saying he was the soundest egg in the carton, but on the other hand, I don't believe in going down with the wreckage if you don't have to. So I think my reaction is much more a personal one than a valid literary criticism. So interesting to discuss, though.

[Tom]

I respect your experience, I don't have a parent with dementia. I just thought franzen could have shown us a scene of chip with his wife , Denise with a girlfriend, Gary and his wife healthier, joking together, just some example of the hope he metioned to cheer the book up a bit.

[Tom]

I think my reaction is more personal too. My parents are healthy but they were repressed and angry for a lot of my life. My dad pretty much is Alfred in the book.

[[deleted user]]

Maybe a sequel...

[Amber]

As far as literary books go this one was not my favorite. I only found the daughter (can't recall her name) truly interesting.

[[deleted user]]

Amber wrote: "As far as literary books go this one was not my favorite. I only found the daughter (can't recall her name) truly interesting."

I can see that. Do you feel you "stored anything away" in your mind for future reference, maybe, should any of say, Alfred's maladies, become something your family have to deal with? Just wondering. I think books address not only our current selves, but somehow we may bring something forward to use years after we've read something.

[Amber]

Amber wrote: "As far as literary books go this one was not my favorite. I only found the daughter (can't recall her name) truly interesting."

Actually I have delt with dementia. I had move in with my grandmother and grandfather for a year. My grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson's and slowly lost reality pretty much just like Albert. After we had to put in a home because we couldn't handle him anymore. He has since past on.

That being said, no, I did not like this book nor relate to the characters. Maybe it was the style of writing. Or maybe it is me. I feel like when someone goes through something like this and other things added on top of it, you can become numb. Maybe I'm just numb to the charecters and situations in this paticular book.

American Pastoral and John Updike's Rabbit books effected me much more strongly. Possibly because I have never lived through what those characters did.

[Sophie]

Tom wrote: "i read this novel, and I disliked it's cold clinical tone and emptiness of the characters. Are there any good novels that are the complete opposite to this? IE, warm, emotional, passionate."

I absolutely hated this book too for the same reasons as you.

Depending on the emotion you want, I'd recommend
The way the crow flies
Room
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The time in between
The History of Love

[Tom]

Thanks.. I guess I found the book detached and clinical and wanted a change

[Reinhard]

This was the book that broke the camel's back. I'm never ever going to read another book (or watch a film) about disfunctional people/families. I'm fed up with all their whining.
If you (disfunctional people that is) have a problem keep it to yourself please and don't make your problems a problem for other people. Thank you.