Freedom

Wow. It will be difficult for me to summarize here 550+ dense pages, but I will try. This is a powerhouse of a novel, an engrossing and highly-nuanced narrative of the intricacies of marriage and parenthood, traditional American values held in the light of increasingly polarized politics, and the paradoxically complicated nature of what it actually means to be free.

The story follows a perfectly midwestern couple, Walter and Patty Berglund, and their perfectly nuclear family, who at the start seem cliche in their normalcy and unflappable kindness. But slowly, as their children become teenagers, Patty begins to crack, and then the family cracks, which then sets off a permanent and increasingly damaging rift that grows into all kinds of scandal.

Franzen does a remarkably thorough job of harping on freedom, and what characters will do to try to find it; Walter seeks freedom from his childhood, and from the ills of an environmentally-imploding society; Patty seeks freedom from her marriage with Walter, and from the pervasive regrets of having not hitched the rockstar; Joey wants to be free of his too-committed high school girlfriend; etc, etc, while in the background is 9/11 and then the ensuing war for freedom in Iraq. And so it seems that all journeys for freedom end up messy, painful, and even if freedom is found, it is vacuous and unfulfilling. Walter's older brother Mitch is the prime example of this, and perhaps even Richard Katz.

I may need to think more on the takeaways, thematically, but I will say that Franzen's clever structure and knack for detailed, long-haul character development is captivating from the start. The dialog is delightful and the overall story a little absurd but still firmly enough in contact with reality to be uniquely charming. This book is a commitment, but if you've liked other Franzen novels, or David Foster-Wallace, or the like – then I definitely recommend picking this one up.

I really hate the star system for these kinds of books.

I'm not sure how to review this book. It's not the great American novel, but I see the potential. Franzen is no slouch but the novel suffered from too much observation (if astute) and not enough edge. It's like Franzen can recognize the issues but is to close to comment on them effectively (usefully?). I recognized myself and my generation but was neither affirmed (not a bad thing) or challenged.