The Corrections (International Edition)

Quick delivery. The book is excellent, very entertaining!

I love this book and bought it for my partner who is also loving it. Highly recommend.

So I've read a lot of contradictory opinions regarding Franzen's books, this novel in particular, and the man himself. Some say Franzen is a genius and The Corrections is the best novel they've ever read. Others dismiss the dude as elitist blowhard and his prose as bloated and self-indulgent. While I can't comment on the qualities of Jonathan Franzen's character, having never met the man, I can at least offer the opinion that The Corrections is a very, very good book, although with some quirks that may prove off-putting for some readers.The central premise of the novel – a dysfunctional family of five trying to gather together for one last Christmas – serves as a kind of frame story, with every individual chapter delving into the backstory of a main character. Individual stories are not as cleanly separated as in Decameron or Canterbury Tales, though; author often switches to a different POV to show us same situation from different angles, and the narrative often shifts between past and present, showing us how this or that character's formative years made them what they are today. That Corrections is so character-focused can prove a big problem for some people, because all major and most of minor characters are extremely unlikable. They are paranoid, delusional, self-centered, unfaithful, manipulative, domineering (the list could go on forever, really), and their redeeming qualities are few. Nevertheless, none of them are bland or uninteresting, and you will quickly discover that although all of important characters are A-holes, there are actually many different degrees of A-hollery; who knows, maybe you'll even end up rooting for some of characters (or at least hate them less than others). The author even plays a little bait-and-switch where a seemingly most well-rounded and nice member of the family later turns out to be one of the worst human beings in the book.A lot of people here and elsewhere complained that the absence of sympathetic characters made the book unreadable for them. I beg to differ. Franzen's characters are unlikable, but they are hardly unsympathetic. Numerous flashbacks help us understand that they are hardly to blame for most of their shortcomings; in most cases no one is really to blame. Also, they are not quite unrealistic, and while Franzen is often extremely satirical in their depictions (for example, one of the family members thinks "At least I didn't become a religious fundamentalist like my father"; his sons are named Caleb, Jonah, and Aaron), they still don't devolve into outright caricatures. Speaking of caricatures, Franzen dishes out a lot of criticism aimed both left and right: academic feminists and racist bigots, Midwestern traditionalists and coastal elites, capitalists and socialists all get their due portion of witty barbs. On the other hand, while Franzen steps on a lot of toes, he is unlikely to continue stomping on any particular foot; his criticism is aimed at society in general, and the way it twists and corrupts individuals.Last, but not least, I've found Franzen's writing style to be pleasantly witty and well-flowing. I've had to re-read a couple of complex passages to actually get them, but the writing in general is not ponderous or self-indulging at all. I'd recommend Corrections to anyone interested in fiction with realistic and complex characters.

This was my first foray into Jonathan Franzen. He really goes deep into each main character. I particularly liked the depiction of the "afflicted" father from his own internal monologue Point of View. The mother's character is a hoot, too: forever putting a positive spin on her dysfunctional family to impress the neighbors. Hilarious.Some reviewers have complained about Franzen's use of "twenty-five cent words." Indeed there are some occasions when a dictionary will come in handy, but I don't see that as anything worth complaining about. The author also gets a bit hallucinatory at times, especially when inhabiting the father's head-space. Again, some may not like that; I found it daring and successful. Joyce-ian.

You have to laugh at the fules giving this superb novel negative reviews because they've had to pay for the book or because it's too long. But that is the curse of the Amazon review, isn't it. Just like Franzen said about 'The Corrections' being in the Oprah book club: some people congratulated him for it, others told him 'Oh, I'm sorry!'Now from someone who has actually read the novel: this is not low-effort by any means, but we should have known this before we picked a Jonathan Franzen in the first place. This was never going to be an easy ride. A mollycoddler, Jonathan Franzen ain't; he makes us work for our reward. The characters are not likeable by any means, but we readers are supposed to be adults and to look for well-written, believable people, not sugar-coated, "likeable" but unrealistic, predictable simpletons. I think it could have done without the nonsense about corrupt Baltics, but I skipped those pages and, guess what, I didn't suffer for it. Nor will I take, because of it, a single star off from a novel which is intelligent, funny and complex.The dysfunctionalities of the dysfunctional families made me cringe but not because they're exaggerated. They are realistic to the point of ruthlessness, and so well-rendered, reading the family scenes was like watching a film about crazy - but unfortunately also perfectly normal - people. Come on, who hasn't had the Babel conversation in which everyone in the family has a one-track mind and talks not to each other, but to themselves?The social commentary and the themes (for example, Franzen's opinions about consumerism and America) are laid a little too thickly, it's true. To Mr Franzen, subtlety does not seem to come easy. And in the gross sex parts, the novel is way too unflinching for my taste.But on the other hand, there are touches of wonderful subtlety, gentleness, and a whole lot of heart every single time the elderly parents - and parenthood generally - come on the scene. Even when the old people are horrible and incredibly annoying, they and what is happening to them (getting old and losing their mind; some giving up, others refusing to capitulate; dying, or watching their loved ones slowly die) are described with warmth and infinite compassion. Yes, I said warmth and infinite compassion.So I would recommend that you get this book, get stuck in there, and stop whining. It won't make you feel all giddy with sugary dreams and fake hope, it won't urge you to fall in love with the whole of humanity, Lady Gaga-style. But it'll make you think, and smile, and cry a little (often all at the same time). Very, very good stuff.

Hello, this book is awesome, it teaches us how things are handled in our day to day life, nice book all I can say

Whether we like it or not, books are introduced to the public after previewers and reviewers pass judgment in the Newspaper Book Reviews, on talk shows, and on the very jacket cover of the book in question. We are a media driven nation and despite our need to feel that we think for ourselves the media influences how we perceive art and literature more than we appreciate. When was the last time you read a book that was a virginal experience between you and the author?I read a glowing review of Franzen's new book and was assured that it was the great American novel of the century. Suddenly it was #1 on the Best Selling List, due in part to the parlay between Oprah Winfrey and the author. Gossip. But by that time I had ordered the book and was stuck with reading it. For some reason (prejudice from reviewers whose opinions I respect) I had decided that this was not going to live up to the hype. In the end I have to admit that despite its weaknesses, The Corections is a good read.Problems: Franzen is giving us yet another dysfunctional American family (one wonders if there are any non-dysfunctional ones out there) and pushes for nearly 600 pages through the morass of just why each member of this five person family is a loser. This does not create a setting in which we can identify with a group of maladjusted people about whom it is hard to care. If you stop with that premise then the book is a tedious waste of your time. BUT..............stay with this book to the final "perfect Christmas" of the mother's dreams (a gathering of a clan tainted by the prodigal life outside the midwestern town of St. Jude) and you wil be rewarded with some fine writing. Franzen may dally too long over describing scenes that are of minimal importance, may probe character defects below the level of tolerance, but step back and read how this fine wordsmith manipulates the English language and I think you'll have to agree that this tome is important. All plodding aside, the story does move along and takes us all over the globe, tainted by the universal misuse of the atmosphere and planet surface that has become commonplace in 2001. And even if we don't really care about this cast of characters, their stories ring with a resonance of our current state of civilization that makes us stop, take notice, and hopefully undergo some self metamorphsis.Isn't the purpose of art just that? Isn't it more important that something creates enough controversy that we find ourselves actually communicating with each other about our strong subjective feelings? Even if you end up not liking this story I don't think anyone can deny that Jonathan Franzen has created a book important enough to make us think and react. And for that reason I think this is a fine book!