The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

On the surface level, The Corrections appears pretty commonplace and maybe even boring to some. It is the story of the Lamberts, Alfred and Enid, both elderly, and their three full-grown children. The book undertakes a big scope looking into the individual stories of each of the five members of the Lambert family, each possessing different sets of problems. Alfred is incorrigibly obstinate and suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Enid is, in a word, delusional, disbelieving anything bad can happen and is dead set on a fairy tale ending, which in this life is having the whole family together for one last Christmas. Gary is a successful broker but whose marriage is a daily battlefield. Chip, a former university professor has fled the country caught up in a scheme that defrauds American investors. And Denise is a coveted restaurant cook who struggles with her sexuality.

So there’s the plot. I liked this book but didn’t really love it. Each different part was interesting enough but when the book culminated with the last Christmas and everybody present, it didn’t equal the whole I was waiting for. Moreover, Franzen, at least in this book, has such an ostentatious way of writing that was annoying and hardly readable at times. It seemed as if he was trying to be too witty, too smart, and too clever with his phrasing, and the result were sentences and words that appeared forced. Sometimes Franzen’s turgidity could ramble on for a quarter of a page.

Still, many people love this book, and like I said, I didn’t hate it. At about a fourth in, I actually thought it was gonna end as a terrific book. Most people, I think though, will either love it or hate it. Which, at 650 pages, makes it a big risk to even begin reading. My suggestion: read it anyway. No matter what side you take, this book will engender much more perspective than any light read.