magnetgrrl's review against another edition
I started this in college and couldn't get into it; found it massively boring. Doubt I'll give it another chance ever, but you never know.
ashrafulla's review against another edition
4.0
I ended up loathing every character in this book for their whiny deficiencies, which is probably part of the reason I loved this book. There was no hero or good guy to me; every person was not just flawed, but flawed in a way that made me annoyed with them. Alfred's idiotic stubbornness, Enid's annoying shallowness, Chip's pathetic intellectualism, Denise's pathetic confusion, and Gary's holier-than-thou arrogance. Even the minor characters (Caroline, the Passafaros) got under my skin. Instead or maybe as a result, I enjoyed the trials and tribulations.
The writing was excellent as well; Franzen intermittently adds these really long paragraphs that detail psychological moods during the small action going around. The pace of the action fits the pace of the diction: fast and jumbled when things are fast and jumbled like Chip's contemplations, sharp and quick when things are sharp and quick like long conversations. It leads to an overall sense, from diction to organization to plot, that you are on a well-told ride of a story.
Disclaimer: this read has a hump in it similar to the hump Chip Lambert talks about in his screenplay. That hump is Chip's first story; if you can digest that, then the rest of the story is very good.
The writing was excellent as well; Franzen intermittently adds these really long paragraphs that detail psychological moods during the small action going around. The pace of the action fits the pace of the diction: fast and jumbled when things are fast and jumbled like Chip's contemplations, sharp and quick when things are sharp and quick like long conversations. It leads to an overall sense, from diction to organization to plot, that you are on a well-told ride of a story.
Disclaimer: this read has a hump in it similar to the hump Chip Lambert talks about in his screenplay. That hump is Chip's first story; if you can digest that, then the rest of the story is very good.
novelesque_life's review against another edition
1.0
ZERO STARS
"After almost 50 years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease, and their children are all making catastrophes of their own lives. Enid however, has her heart set on one last family Christmas." (From Amazon)
I only liked the sister's voice in this novel. A better book on dysfunctional families I would recommend reading Douglas Coupland's ALL FAMILIES ARE PSYCHOTIC.
"After almost 50 years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease, and their children are all making catastrophes of their own lives. Enid however, has her heart set on one last family Christmas." (From Amazon)
I only liked the sister's voice in this novel. A better book on dysfunctional families I would recommend reading Douglas Coupland's ALL FAMILIES ARE PSYCHOTIC.
kiableem's review against another edition
2.0
Didn't enjoy this book. Disappointed after a personal recommendation and enjoying another book from the same author.
mundinova's review against another edition
5.0
"His entire life was set up as a correction of his father's life."
A book's impact is largely dependant on where you are in your life when read.
Once past adolescence, [b:The Catcher in the Rye|5107|The Catcher in the Rye|J.D. Salinger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1398034300l/5107._SY75_.jpg|3036731] loses its appeal. Same for [b:On the Road|70401|On the Road|Jack Kerouac|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1413588576l/70401._SX50_.jpg|1701188]. But if you read [b:The Stranger|49552|The Stranger|Albert Camus|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349927872l/49552._SY75_.jpg|3324344] during a personal crisis, or Harry Potter during the month of December you're bound to fall in love.
The Corrections should only be read after the period in every adult child's life when they must face the mortality (and irrationality) of their aging parents.
The Lambert family is both familiar and bizarre. Franzen crafted perfectly flawed characters in situations that appeared mundane but were actually crazy. I found myself mentally yelling at characters to act differently only because they reminded me of myself or my family. I wanted a different outcome. I just wanted everything to be normal again. But there isn't a different outcome, that's the point. The impact landed hard.
Franzen is already one of my favorite authors and this is by far his best book (yes, even better than [b:Freedom|7905092|Freedom|Jonathan Franzen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1316729686l/7905092._SY75_.jpg|9585796]). There's themes and symbolism and recurring touchstones perfectly woven into this story. Better reviewers than me have captured that brilliance, so I'm not going to try.
Story: 5 stars
Character Development: 5 stars
Writing/Prose: 5 stars
A book's impact is largely dependant on where you are in your life when read.
Once past adolescence, [b:The Catcher in the Rye|5107|The Catcher in the Rye|J.D. Salinger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1398034300l/5107._SY75_.jpg|3036731] loses its appeal. Same for [b:On the Road|70401|On the Road|Jack Kerouac|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1413588576l/70401._SX50_.jpg|1701188]. But if you read [b:The Stranger|49552|The Stranger|Albert Camus|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349927872l/49552._SY75_.jpg|3324344] during a personal crisis, or Harry Potter during the month of December you're bound to fall in love.
The Corrections should only be read after the period in every adult child's life when they must face the mortality (and irrationality) of their aging parents.
The Lambert family is both familiar and bizarre. Franzen crafted perfectly flawed characters in situations that appeared mundane but were actually crazy. I found myself mentally yelling at characters to act differently only because they reminded me of myself or my family. I wanted a different outcome. I just wanted everything to be normal again. But there isn't a different outcome, that's the point. The impact landed hard.
Franzen is already one of my favorite authors and this is by far his best book (yes, even better than [b:Freedom|7905092|Freedom|Jonathan Franzen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1316729686l/7905092._SY75_.jpg|9585796]). There's themes and symbolism and recurring touchstones perfectly woven into this story. Better reviewers than me have captured that brilliance, so I'm not going to try.
Story: 5 stars
Character Development: 5 stars
Writing/Prose: 5 stars
lillibooks's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
wille44's review against another edition
2.0
The Corrections was a book that I initially enjoyed a great deal, but the more I read the more my admiration eroded, and by the end I was left feeling nothing but distaste for the novel. Initially I wasn't really sure how it happened either. Franzen's prose is compulsively readable, which is no small feat when his subject matter is largely the mundanity and unfulfillment of American middle class life at the turn of the century. He is the most perfect personification of "middlebrow" I have come across yet, which isn't meant as an insult. The Corrections is a literary work that seems very self conscious of how literary exactly it is, taking pains to both flex more ornate sentences and verbiage while simultaneously preserving an easy reading momentum that at times rivals the thriller genre.
Unfortunately this restraint extends to its subject matter. The Corrections purports to be a sweeping critique of the dot com bubble America, specifically the disintegration of the family unit and individual sense of fulfillment of the middle class during this time. However larger scale issues of late stage capitalism, speculative markets, pharmaceutical power, and midcentury values growing untenable are mostly set dressing for Franzen to tell us how many facts and ideas he knows without engaging with them critically or subtextually.
What he does engage deeply with are his characters, who are often held up as the shining success of the book. While the Lambert family is rendered in agonizing detail, complete with neuroses, complexes, and loads of interpersonal strife, Franzen makes it clear throughout his novel that he truly loathes these people. I can recall very few books I've read in which an author has such vitriol for their own characters, his disdain for them drips off every page, and while I'm all for a good story about horrible people Franzen's authorial voice became a highly distracting element for me. The primary emotional driver of the novel, which one would expect to be a skewering of the society and age and problems the characters face, was instead rage towards the characters themselves, a band of miserable ex-midwesterners who resented their lives and each other.
On the whole the novel ended up leaving me cold. It's flow and Franzen's writing style are smooth and well executed, managing to deftly balance easy reading with literary chops. Sadly this balance does not extend to the content of the novel, its themes aren't given much more than an obvious surface level assessment. Paired with a cast of characters written with real loathing, the whole package is one that gives me nothing of value to walk away with, it's ultimately an oddly angry, surprisingly slight work.
Unfortunately this restraint extends to its subject matter. The Corrections purports to be a sweeping critique of the dot com bubble America, specifically the disintegration of the family unit and individual sense of fulfillment of the middle class during this time. However larger scale issues of late stage capitalism, speculative markets, pharmaceutical power, and midcentury values growing untenable are mostly set dressing for Franzen to tell us how many facts and ideas he knows without engaging with them critically or subtextually.
What he does engage deeply with are his characters, who are often held up as the shining success of the book. While the Lambert family is rendered in agonizing detail, complete with neuroses, complexes, and loads of interpersonal strife, Franzen makes it clear throughout his novel that he truly loathes these people. I can recall very few books I've read in which an author has such vitriol for their own characters, his disdain for them drips off every page, and while I'm all for a good story about horrible people Franzen's authorial voice became a highly distracting element for me. The primary emotional driver of the novel, which one would expect to be a skewering of the society and age and problems the characters face, was instead rage towards the characters themselves, a band of miserable ex-midwesterners who resented their lives and each other.
On the whole the novel ended up leaving me cold. It's flow and Franzen's writing style are smooth and well executed, managing to deftly balance easy reading with literary chops. Sadly this balance does not extend to the content of the novel, its themes aren't given much more than an obvious surface level assessment. Paired with a cast of characters written with real loathing, the whole package is one that gives me nothing of value to walk away with, it's ultimately an oddly angry, surprisingly slight work.
laviskrg's review against another edition
5.0
5 stars is not enough for a Jonathan Franzen book. I truly believe that he is the best contemporary author, one of the most impressive minds in our broken, mediocre society. I worship his every word, his every sentence, especially those magical ones that span pages. I am hooked on his commentary on families, American society, politics and humanity in general. It is absolutely unique to read about his collection of horrendously unlikeable characters and be so honestly invested in their every moment. This is literary genius at its finest.