athoffman18's review against another edition
4.0
I was expecting quit a lot from this book, what with all the hype and all the good things I'd heard about it. To say it lived up to the hype would be a true statement. It was like no other book that I've read in a long time. It was like reading about real people, and not fictional characters that could never possibly exist but in someones strange fantasy of the human species.
Each character had it's own beautiful flaws, issues and imperfections...but I think this made me love the book even more. The humanity of the characters make it worth reading again. Throughout the book almost every human emotion is apparent. Fear, love, loathing, infatuation, hate, loss, depression, and passion....be it passion through love or passion through hate, what are we without our passion.
Each character had it's own beautiful flaws, issues and imperfections...but I think this made me love the book even more. The humanity of the characters make it worth reading again. Throughout the book almost every human emotion is apparent. Fear, love, loathing, infatuation, hate, loss, depression, and passion....be it passion through love or passion through hate, what are we without our passion.
ashrafulla's review against another edition
2.0
This book falls far short of the interesting melodrama in The Corrections. It was pretty easy from the outset to guess what happened to the antihero Walter and the anti damsel Patty, and then you could have written the rest yourself if you had already read Franzen. That was the most disappointing part of the book: the lack of a new development to separate this book from the other, more artistic novel.
Another disappointing part is that all of the characters are the same as each other in an extremely direct and too-unrealistic way. All four of the main characters (Richard, Walter, Patty & Joey) have the exact same character faults and benefits. As a result you feel like you're rereading bits from the beginning of the book by the end. There is no depth to this character either. It is just basic sexual depravity with only enough of a moral compass to pity oneself but not enough of a moral magnet to do anything about it.
The writing tries to be good but fails to elevate any of the scenes. For example, the confrontations between Walter and Patty seem set for a TV scene moreso than a novel. There is no depth in describing their emotions, the energy of the setting or the effect of the final blow. I realize this may be due to the requirement of most of the book being posed as a autobiography. However the novel doesn't take any advantage of that style; it is more quirk than design.
This all leads to a lack of fulfillment at a denouement that should be much more satisfying. I might be wrong in judging this harshly based on how much I enjoyed The Corrections but comparing works by the same author is too much of an impulse to ignore. In this comparison, Franzen here falls short of Franzen there.
Another disappointing part is that all of the characters are the same as each other in an extremely direct and too-unrealistic way. All four of the main characters (Richard, Walter, Patty & Joey) have the exact same character faults and benefits. As a result you feel like you're rereading bits from the beginning of the book by the end. There is no depth to this character either. It is just basic sexual depravity with only enough of a moral compass to pity oneself but not enough of a moral magnet to do anything about it.
The writing tries to be good but fails to elevate any of the scenes. For example, the confrontations between Walter and Patty seem set for a TV scene moreso than a novel. There is no depth in describing their emotions, the energy of the setting or the effect of the final blow. I realize this may be due to the requirement of most of the book being posed as a autobiography. However the novel doesn't take any advantage of that style; it is more quirk than design.
This all leads to a lack of fulfillment at a denouement that should be much more satisfying. I might be wrong in judging this harshly based on how much I enjoyed The Corrections but comparing works by the same author is too much of an impulse to ignore. In this comparison, Franzen here falls short of Franzen there.
mundinova's review against another edition
4.0
Story: 1 stars
Character Development: 5 star
Prose/Language: 5 stars
Jonathan Franzen is probably the best writer I've ever read. Not the most interesting or life changing storyteller, but definitely the best writer. The characters in Freedom are real and complex, but their lives left me wondering "why tell their story?". It's a perfect snapshot of today's americana. I guess in that light it's interesting. Ultimately, don't read this book if you're looking to be entertained. It's not that kind of book.
Character Development: 5 star
Prose/Language: 5 stars
Jonathan Franzen is probably the best writer I've ever read. Not the most interesting or life changing storyteller, but definitely the best writer. The characters in Freedom are real and complex, but their lives left me wondering "why tell their story?". It's a perfect snapshot of today's americana. I guess in that light it's interesting. Ultimately, don't read this book if you're looking to be entertained. It's not that kind of book.
readhikerepeat's review against another edition
4.0
The book, in a nutshell, is about a socially conscious set of parents and their two children, who, by all appearances, live a pretty idyllic life, at least until a series of events catapult them into a new life. Distanced from their son, socially awkward with their daughter, and reliant on the reliability of their relationship so far, Walter and Patty Berglund enter middle age with not a clue as to how they got there or where they are going. The best way I can describe them is to compare the family to a delicate piece of china that begins to fracture and fall apart after a cumulation of dings that were overlooked at the time that they occurred. Freedom tells the story of this disintegration, starting with Patty (the jock) and Walter’s (the nerd) childhoods and straight through to middle age.
For the full review, visit The Book Wheel.
For the full review, visit The Book Wheel.
alimalina's review against another edition
2.5
it was fine, nothing much really. and the narrator seems to be very much into jerking themselves off and the sound of their own voice. and me not so much.
callikat's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-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
4.25
cheyenneisreading's review against another edition
I reluctantly finished it. I really wanted to enjoy this book and might re-read at some stage in the future..
laviskrg's review
5.0
This book will go directly to the shelf "Best books of my life", but it puts plenty of the books on that list to shame. This was by far one of the greatest, most fabulous, most thought-provoking and heartbreaking books I've ever read in my life. It was recommended by an awesome friend with exquisite reading tastes who mentioned that he would not be surprised if this book ended up being taught in school. I share the same thoughts.
"Freedom" is a Great American novel, and it is essential to understand the strong political context, but as far as the family saga at its center and main focus, it is a novel of the world. It is very easy to falsely reject the characters as being weak or inactive or pessimistic but I found them extremely viscerally human and relatable on an emotional and sensitive level. What was at the beginning a decent into the destructive spiral of stangers' lives, turned out to be a personal, riveting, intellectual analysis of people I found to be all to real and all to close to me towards the end.
The language is sublime. It makes me cry out in joy to find a writer with such a beautiful control over language, such a diverse vocabulary, such a flowing prose, and such a realistic dialogue. Such a refreshing break from mediocre and sub-par wannabe "artists" who over-think and over-describe anything. This book, which was devoid of shallow action scenes was more exciting and nerve-wracking than entire volumes of non-stop action written for the Twitter generation.
I adored every page, and it is truly miraculous nowadays to find a book that you devour and that consumes you as well. A book which leaves so much within you while also peeling away your self defense layer by layer.
A true work of art of the modern time, humorous for how totally unfunny it is, intense, brutal, obvious yet unexpected. Heart-wrenching and warming at the same time. A must-read, must-love, and an immense warning sign of how not to live, but how many do. And yet, they do live.
"Freedom" is a Great American novel, and it is essential to understand the strong political context, but as far as the family saga at its center and main focus, it is a novel of the world. It is very easy to falsely reject the characters as being weak or inactive or pessimistic but I found them extremely viscerally human and relatable on an emotional and sensitive level. What was at the beginning a decent into the destructive spiral of stangers' lives, turned out to be a personal, riveting, intellectual analysis of people I found to be all to real and all to close to me towards the end.
The language is sublime. It makes me cry out in joy to find a writer with such a beautiful control over language, such a diverse vocabulary, such a flowing prose, and such a realistic dialogue. Such a refreshing break from mediocre and sub-par wannabe "artists" who over-think and over-describe anything. This book, which was devoid of shallow action scenes was more exciting and nerve-wracking than entire volumes of non-stop action written for the Twitter generation.
I adored every page, and it is truly miraculous nowadays to find a book that you devour and that consumes you as well. A book which leaves so much within you while also peeling away your self defense layer by layer.
A true work of art of the modern time, humorous for how totally unfunny it is, intense, brutal, obvious yet unexpected. Heart-wrenching and warming at the same time. A must-read, must-love, and an immense warning sign of how not to live, but how many do. And yet, they do live.
nglofile's review against another edition
1.0
Awful, just awful. This was painful, to say the least. Each and every one of the characters is loathsome. The sexual content is shoveled on (but not in any way that can be construed as erotic), and there is a fascination with bodily fluids that I cannot begin to understand. I'm honestly having trouble coming up with one redeeming quality. The sliding time frames added a little interest, but not by much. Just because the author sets his story in contemporary America and references significant events and cultural debates does not make this an important book. It has nothing to offer but obsessive self-importance and disdain for nearly everything and everyone. Save yourself. Run far, far away from Freedom.