Freedom

Book #9
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen



So clearly, I've fallen behind in this blog. However, I have read lots of books and I would still like to write tidbits on what I've read, so at least I can remember.

I was looking forward to Jonathan Franzen's latest novel. His last book, The Corrections, was great. I highly recommend it. It's a novel with a great sense of humor and an interesting perspective on American life.

However, I am not as big a fan of Freedom. It's about one unlikeable family. Bleh.

Franzen just loves writing for the now, as if the audience will relate more when they recognize the name of a certain celebrity. He drops names of brands, websites, pop culture, like none other. Really, Franzen, must we mention Twitter? I found this quite annoying and this has the effect of already making the book seem a bit dated. It can only be written and read within a certain time period for all the cultural name-droppings to be relevant.

I really hated the portrayal of women in this book as well; either bitter hags or mysterious nymphs. Patty, the wife, is stupid and mean. The girlfriend of the son is just so mysterious! She's so mysterious no adjectives exist in this language to describe her besides her mystery! Oh, and there's another brown exotic woman. She's just so exotic and mysterious too!

The only relate-able character is Walter, while the others seem quite one-sided. His best friend hates women. The women have no personalities. His son is a Republican. I mean, really, what is there to like?

Overall, it did have some interesting perspectives on modern life. Do we have too much freedom? Is too much freedom a good or bad thing?

But then I was just annoyed by other things. Like, can you please try to distinguish narrators? Patty writes a memoir and it sounds exactly like the rest of the book.

So, if you have lots of spare time and someone lends you this book, read it. If not, don't buy it from the airport for 30 dollars, like I did.