Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
FSG, $28, August 31, 2010
There were a lot of squeals around the office when a review copy of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom arrived in the mail. It’s been nearly nine years since the publication of The Corrections (which I read for the first time in January, and which remains my favorite book I’ve read all year), and we’ve already written a couple posts speculating about Franzen’s newest novel.
At this point about I’m about a quarter into Freedom, but I couldn’t wait to share an excerpt with you. That same crackling dialogue that I loved in The Corrections is back; the same absurd family situations that make you think, “These people are insane.” (And then, “These people remind me of my family.”)
The novel starts with an essay called “Good Neighbors,” the very same that The New Yorker ran in 2009. This introduces us to the seemingly perfect (but soon to become unhinged) world of Patty and Walter Berglund, a couple in Ramsey Hill, Minnesota. After their lives seem to collapse—their son’s moved into a Republican family’s house next door—the narrative turns to Patty’s teen and college years, through her marriage to Walter. (You can read the first chapter of that section in The New Yorker, too.) Then, it comes back to 2004—and that’s where I am now.
The excerpt is from the “Good Neighbors” section.
In the earliest years, when you could still drive a Volvo 240 without feeling self-conscious, the collective task in Ramsey Hill was to relearn certain life skills that your own parents had fled to the suburbs specifically to unlearn, like how to interest the local cops in actually doing their job, and how to protect a bike from a highly motivated thief, and when to bother rousting a drunk from your lawn furniture, and how to encourage feral cats to shit in somebody else’s children’s sandbox, and how to determine whether a public school sucked too much to bother trying to fix it. There were also more contemporary questions, like: What about those cloth diapers? Worth the bother? And was it true that you could still get milk delivered in glass bottles? Were the Boy Scouts O.K. politically? Was bulgur really necessary? Where to recycle batteries? How to respond when a poor person of color accused you of destroying her neighborhood? Was it true that the glaze of old Fiestaware contained dangerous amounts of lead? How elaborate did a kitchen water filter actually need to be? Did your 240 sometimes not go into overdrive when you pushed the overdrive button? Was it better to offer panhandlers food or nothing? Was it possible to raise unprecedentedly confident, happy, brilliant kids while working full time? Could coffee beans be ground the night before you used them, or did this have to be done in the morning? Had anybody in the history of St. Paul ever had a positive experience with a roofer? What about a good Volvo mechanic? Did your 240 have that problem with the sticky parking-brake cable? And that enigmatically labelled dashboard switch that made such a satisfying Swedish click but seemed not to be connected to anything: what was that?
I WILL read “Freedom” and just finished The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano – excellent novel
I’m currently reading “The Reliable Wife” which is proving to be quite intriguing. I just finished reading “Daughters of Fortune” by Tara Hyland. This was her first novel and she is an extremely talented author to watch. I cannot wait for her next novel. I highly recommend this book and see for yourself how a truly great author writes!
Very jealous that you have your hands on the new Franzen. I also loved The Corrections, so I’ll certainly be reading this… though I do have his back catalog to work through as well!
Yes, I am intrigued. I think I want to go find a copy of ‘The Corrections’ and check it out, too. I just finished reading the Lute Player by Norah Lofts.
I am currently reading The Imperfectionist and Portrait in Sepia.
I will read “Freedom”.
I just finished reading ” A Visit From the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan. It is by far the best book I have read this year. (and I have read a lot of books!) It is unusual to say the least. It has lots of characters, different stories and points of view, bounces around in time from the 70′s through 2020. It even uses a powerpoint to demonstrate some of the happenings that isn’t explained in the book. It is awesome. Nothing I have read compares to it.
I am about halfway through “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” and am really enjoying it. I have found a little too much information regarding the workings of Swedish politics. But overall this is a highly rated conclusion to the trilogy.
It’s not a normal day for me if I am not reading at least 3 books at once so here is what I have going right now:
Tinkers
The Stand (re-reading and loving it all over again)
Someone at a Distance
I’m not sure about Freedom. I don’t care for the author’s writing style.
I just finished reading one of the most interesting books about the life of Louisa May Alcott. It is crammed full of everything it seems you would want to know about her, her family, and great information about that period of time. What a treasure! The title is Louisa May Alcott, The Woman Behind Little Women, by Harriet Reisen.
I just started reading The Last Fix, by k.o. Dahl.
Yes I will be purchasing “Freedom” tomorrow. I am intrigued. I also loved “The Corrections”. I am reading “The Saxon Shore” part of the Camulad series by Ken Whyte and am also reading “The Lion” by Nelson DeMille.
I am reading “Long Long Time Ago and Essential True” by Brigid Pasulka. I never did read “The Corrections”, but the excerpt provided of “Freedom” sounds interesting. Maybe I’ll give it a try!
I’d much rather read Richard Russo.