The Corrections
4 journalers for this copy...
From inside flap.....A grandly entertaining novel for the new century, a comic, tragic masterpiece about a family breaking down in an age of easy fixes.
Picked this up at a cheapie bookstore. Ex-library edition. In my TBR pile.
Picked this up at a cheapie bookstore. Ex-library edition. In my TBR pile.
Try as I may, I just could not get into this book. I dont know if it was the style of how it was written or if the story just stunk. I keep trying these Oprah books, but not yet have I read one that she recommended that I actually liked.
Thank you for the book from Mississippi for my personal project of reading a BookCrossing book from every state! I look forward to reading it and will release when done.
Just a little note to say that I was able to start this book last night. The size is intimidating - this is a big book. Got the first 100 pages down last night. It's good so far. Will be interesting to see where the story goes.
Accepted by editorgrrl on the "Already Been Crossed books" Relay - mailing today.
Huge ex-library hardcover (the Oprah's Book Club edition) with plastic-covered dustjacket received in the mail from Sherman Oaks, California, USA, through the Already Been Crossed books Bookrelay. (With a Texas postcard that'll make a perfect bookmark--thanks!) Reading group guide available at fsgbooks.com. Read more at jonathanfranzen.com.
From Publishers Weekly
If some authors are masters of suspense, others postmodern verbal acrobats, and still others complex-character pointillists, few excel in all three arenas. In his long-awaited third novel, Franzen does. Unlike his previous works, The 27th City (1988) and Strong Motion (1992), which tackled St. Louis and Boston, respectively, this one skips from city to city (New York; St. Jude; Philadelphia; Vilnius, Lithuania) as it follows the delamination of the Lambert family--Alfred, once a rigid disciplinarian, flounders against Parkinson's-induced dementia; Enid, his loyal and embittered wife, lusts for the perfect Midwestern Christmas; Denise, their daughter, launches the hippest restaurant in Philly; and Gary, their oldest son, grapples with depression, while Chip, his brother, attempts to shore his eroding self-confidence by joining forces with a self-mocking, Eastern-Bloc politician. As in his other novels, Franzen blends these personal dramas with expert technical cartwheels and savage commentary on larger social issues, such as the imbecility of laissez-faire parenting and the farcical nature of U.S.-Third World relations. The result is a book made of equal parts fury and humor, one that takes a dry-eyed look at our culture, at our pains and insecurities, while offering hope that, occasionally at least, we can reach some kind of understanding. This is, simply, a masterpiece. Its varied subject matter will endear it to a genre-crossing section of fans.
From Booklist
*Starred Review*
Ferociously detailed, gratifyingly mind-expanding, and daringly complex and unhurried, New Yorker writer Franzen's third and best-yet novel aligns the spectacular dysfunctions of one Midwest family with the explosive malfunctions of society-at-large. Alfred's simple values were in perfect accord with the iron orderliness of the railroad he so zealously served, but he is now discovering the miseries and entropy of Parkinson's disease. His wife, Enid, who has filled every cupboard and closet in their seemingly perfect house with riotous clutter in an unconscious response to her hunger for deeper experience, refuses to accept the severity of Alfred's affliction. Gary, the most uptight and bossiest of their unmoored adult offspring, is so undermined by his ruthlessly strategic wife that he barely avoids a nervous breakdown. Chip loses a plum academic job after being seduced and betrayed by a student, then nearly loses his life in Lithuania after perpetuating some profoundly cynical Internet fraud. And Denise detonates her career as a trendy chef by having an affair with her boss's wife. Heir in scope and spirit to the great nineteenth-century novelists, Franzen is also kin to Stanley Elkin with his caustic humor, satiric imagination, and free-flowing empathy as he mocks the absurdity and brutality of consumer culture. At once miniaturistic and panoramic, Franzen's prodigious comedic saga renders family life on an epic scale and captures the decadence of the dot-com era. Each cleverly choreographed fiasco stands as a correction to the delusions that precipitated it, and each step back from the brink of catastrophe becomes a move toward hope, integrity, and love.
From Library Journal
Here's a family that will never be mistaken for the Royal Tenenbaums. Meet the Lamberts: Dad is a retired railroad man who is slipping into dementia; Mom is still trying to believe in the rosiest possible marriage and family life; and their grown children are each living out a catastrophe. The youngest son is failing miserably as a sort of screenwriter in Lithuania, the daughter is a chef of some accomplishment who can't seem to keep out of bed with just about anyone, and the oldest son is yelling at and withholding affection from his family just as his father did before him. The family home is in St. Jude (aptly named for the patron saint of hopeless causes). Enid, the wife and mother, wants the whole family together for one last Christmas before her husband, Alfred, slips beyond reach. Getting them all under the same roof even for a few hours is a massive undertaking. Franzen is a keen observer of the way the world works, and it is a tribute to his skill as a novelist that the reader remains interested in the craziness of these lives. Recommended for fiction collections in public libraries.
From Publishers Weekly
If some authors are masters of suspense, others postmodern verbal acrobats, and still others complex-character pointillists, few excel in all three arenas. In his long-awaited third novel, Franzen does. Unlike his previous works, The 27th City (1988) and Strong Motion (1992), which tackled St. Louis and Boston, respectively, this one skips from city to city (New York; St. Jude; Philadelphia; Vilnius, Lithuania) as it follows the delamination of the Lambert family--Alfred, once a rigid disciplinarian, flounders against Parkinson's-induced dementia; Enid, his loyal and embittered wife, lusts for the perfect Midwestern Christmas; Denise, their daughter, launches the hippest restaurant in Philly; and Gary, their oldest son, grapples with depression, while Chip, his brother, attempts to shore his eroding self-confidence by joining forces with a self-mocking, Eastern-Bloc politician. As in his other novels, Franzen blends these personal dramas with expert technical cartwheels and savage commentary on larger social issues, such as the imbecility of laissez-faire parenting and the farcical nature of U.S.-Third World relations. The result is a book made of equal parts fury and humor, one that takes a dry-eyed look at our culture, at our pains and insecurities, while offering hope that, occasionally at least, we can reach some kind of understanding. This is, simply, a masterpiece. Its varied subject matter will endear it to a genre-crossing section of fans.
From Booklist
*Starred Review*
Ferociously detailed, gratifyingly mind-expanding, and daringly complex and unhurried, New Yorker writer Franzen's third and best-yet novel aligns the spectacular dysfunctions of one Midwest family with the explosive malfunctions of society-at-large. Alfred's simple values were in perfect accord with the iron orderliness of the railroad he so zealously served, but he is now discovering the miseries and entropy of Parkinson's disease. His wife, Enid, who has filled every cupboard and closet in their seemingly perfect house with riotous clutter in an unconscious response to her hunger for deeper experience, refuses to accept the severity of Alfred's affliction. Gary, the most uptight and bossiest of their unmoored adult offspring, is so undermined by his ruthlessly strategic wife that he barely avoids a nervous breakdown. Chip loses a plum academic job after being seduced and betrayed by a student, then nearly loses his life in Lithuania after perpetuating some profoundly cynical Internet fraud. And Denise detonates her career as a trendy chef by having an affair with her boss's wife. Heir in scope and spirit to the great nineteenth-century novelists, Franzen is also kin to Stanley Elkin with his caustic humor, satiric imagination, and free-flowing empathy as he mocks the absurdity and brutality of consumer culture. At once miniaturistic and panoramic, Franzen's prodigious comedic saga renders family life on an epic scale and captures the decadence of the dot-com era. Each cleverly choreographed fiasco stands as a correction to the delusions that precipitated it, and each step back from the brink of catastrophe becomes a move toward hope, integrity, and love.
From Library Journal
Here's a family that will never be mistaken for the Royal Tenenbaums. Meet the Lamberts: Dad is a retired railroad man who is slipping into dementia; Mom is still trying to believe in the rosiest possible marriage and family life; and their grown children are each living out a catastrophe. The youngest son is failing miserably as a sort of screenwriter in Lithuania, the daughter is a chef of some accomplishment who can't seem to keep out of bed with just about anyone, and the oldest son is yelling at and withholding affection from his family just as his father did before him. The family home is in St. Jude (aptly named for the patron saint of hopeless causes). Enid, the wife and mother, wants the whole family together for one last Christmas before her husband, Alfred, slips beyond reach. Getting them all under the same roof even for a few hours is a massive undertaking. Franzen is a keen observer of the way the world works, and it is a tribute to his skill as a novelist that the reader remains interested in the craziness of these lives. Recommended for fiction collections in public libraries.
A huge thank you to cliff1976, gorydetails & quinnsmom, who all helped to fix the problem of this book appearing 4x on my bookshelf!
I was afraid to read this book because it's so big (568 pages) and because it's a "big-brain" book. I read escapist crap--chicklit mostly. I finally psyched myself up to read the first 100 pages. I have never put a book down unfinished (not even You Shall Know Our Velocity!, which I hated), but it was the only way I could get up the nerve to tackle this book. Turns out I was hooked on the very first page: "Two empty hours were a sinus in which infections were bred." It took me at least ten days to finish this book, but it was so worth it!
I was afraid to read this book because it's so big (568 pages) and because it's a "big-brain" book. I read escapist crap--chicklit mostly. I finally psyched myself up to read the first 100 pages. I have never put a book down unfinished (not even You Shall Know Our Velocity!, which I hated), but it was the only way I could get up the nerve to tackle this book. Turns out I was hooked on the very first page: "Two empty hours were a sinus in which infections were bred." It took me at least ten days to finish this book, but it was so worth it!
Journal Entry 8 by editorgrrl at Klekolo World Coffee, 181 Court St. (OBCZ) in Middletown, Connecticut USA on Monday, July 11, 2005
Released 18 yrs ago (7/11/2005 UTC) at Klekolo World Coffee, 181 Court St. (OBCZ) in Middletown, Connecticut USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
On the shelves on the right as you come through the front door at:
Klekolo World Coffee
181 Court St.
Middletown, Connecticut, USA
(860) 343-9444
Thanks for finding this book
Please write a journal entry letting all its readers know that this book has been found. (It's anonymous, and you don't have to join BookCrossing to do it.) Then read and keep this book, give it to a friend, or even release it for someone else to find—just like you did. Happy reading!
On the shelves on the right as you come through the front door at:
Klekolo World Coffee
181 Court St.
Middletown, Connecticut, USA
(860) 343-9444
Thanks for finding this book
Please write a journal entry letting all its readers know that this book has been found. (It's anonymous, and you don't have to join BookCrossing to do it.) Then read and keep this book, give it to a friend, or even release it for someone else to find—just like you did. Happy reading!
Usually I read the paper with my coffee. Today, overwhelmed by the deteriorating situation in the New Orleans area, I turned to the coffee shop's bookshelf for something light, preferably something I haven't read already. And here is this book! Not light, by any means (a couple pounds, at least!) but a fabulous lady I know had recommended it recently. The first couple of pages are rich. This will have to be a bedtime book.