Freedom (2010)

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. I am so conflicted by this novel. On the one hand, it is one of the handful of contemporary novels I've read in the last ten years that I feel to be well written. We are clearly in the hands of a master stylist, a formidable intelligence, someone with astounding social insight and armed with immense powers of observation and nuance. There is no doubt that Franzen is an astonishingly talented writer. I actually love him a little bit. He is a feminist, an environmentalist, a bundle of anxiety, a guy who blindfolds himself in order to write (and doesn't make a big thing of it).

But this book has me flummoxed. At the end of the day, the story is about people who, in my opinion, are simply not that interesting. They are upper middle class victims of personal ennui and some pretty substantial sociological shiftings. There is literally not a single woman in this book, for all of Franzen's feminist leanings, who is at all likable (not that characters have to be likable in order to be well-drawn): Patty, the protagonist, is insufferable; Lalitha is nothing but a cliche younger woman worshipping an older man, Connie, intriguing at first in her singleminded devotion to Joey, becomes boring and cloying, and so on and so forth. I found Lalitha and Walter's relationship, which is positioned as "true love," unconvincing in the extreme. I did, however, very much appreciate the nuances of the relationship between Richard Katz and Walter Berglund, and wished to have read more interaction between these two men. I could not, for the life of me, understand what about Patty Berglund drew Katz to her. Could someone help me understand? This is not snark; I truly want to understand what I'm missing. Perhaps, like Walter, I also have too little compassion and pity.

The end of the book--specifically, Walter's existential angst--felt very real and powerful to me. I felt he was most vividly drawn in these pages. But this build-up was dashed, for me, when we learn who the bird sanctuary has been named for. Again, it just didn't resonate for me, as the relationship it alludes to seemed to me false.

Then there is the device of Patty writing her own autobiography. No critic seemed to think this a strained device. In fact, they all thought it brilliant. I think that word was actually used in the Times review: brilliant. Franzen can't help being Franzen, and Patty is not supposed to be the kind of talented writer Franzen is. And yet, he's there at every turn as is almost inevitable. The whole device strained my credulity.
So, yes, exceptionally talented writer. But no, the story did not feel to me to be the storyline of the mythical Great American Novel that the critics had me believing the book would be. ( )

I had a hard time writing a review of this book. Honestly, I'm still not even sure what this book is "about." (Other than freedom, of course!) That aside, this was one of those books that got me excited each and every time I picked it up, and it was hard to put down. ( )

I'm late arriving at Franzen's work. This is the first I've read, and "The Corrections" obviously beckons (it was checked out in my library at the time I decided to explore his work). "Freedom" is a somewhat elaborately constructed work, with two "autobiographical" sections, written in the third person by one of the novel's characters. The first of these sections is introduced after a brief introductory chapter, and then it reappears later in the novel as it is presented, manuscript form, to one of the other characters in the novel: "here is what was going on, for me, all these years..." The fatal results of this revelation leads, many years later, to a second, briefer autobiographical update. The novel's title appears to be explained, in one of the subsequent non-autobiographical sections, by one of the characters (the recipient of the autobiography, not the author) as: "The reason the system can't be overthrown in this country... is all about freedom. The reason the free market in Europe is tempered by socialism is that they're not so hung up on personal liberties there." The downside to freedom being defined by a right wing manipulated sense of personal liberties is explored with excruciating detail, and hugely complicated results. The tidal pull of the characters in Franzen's writing keeps it interesting: just when you think they've alienated you completely, they do something extraordinary to pull you back into their human orbit. And there is, somehow, a happy ending. ( )

I'm giving Franzen another try. I'm enjoying so-so so far.

This book was difficult to read for the first 7/8 of it. Not in the sense that its prose was heavy or that it fails to take hold of its reader, but that the subject matter becomes increasingly disturbing and depressing; so much so, that I was surrendering to the notion that it also may just end that way. It did not. I actually loved this book and its story of dysfunction; an honest exploration into today's challenges with familial relationships. There is a lot of infidelity and some rather cruel intentions, however, unlike some reviewers, I DID like the main characters in this book...despite their poor life-choices. It's real, believe me, and I loved it. ( )