Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

17 reviews

robgottfried's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 Crossroads was one of the books already on my TBR. It’s the story of a dysfunctional family, set in the 1970s but with plenty of flashbacks. Its size gives it an almost epic feel and it’s been touted as a future American classic. I loved the multiple perspectives, the vivid multi-layered, flawed and imperfect characters and I liked the dive into topics like mental health, infidelity, drug abuse, Vietnam, counter-culture and more. But, and this is a big but for me, this book had a very heavy Christian theme running throughout. Russ, the family’s father, was a pastor which wouldn’t have put me off. However, most of the characters, at one time or another, considered their circumstances and dilemmas at length through a Christian lens. For me it came across as too much, felt dogmatic and preachy, and was enough to push this into the “not for me” category. 
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kah296's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It was good, I’m just not sure it really said anything new. I think I read that it’s going to be a trilogy? Curious to see how that plays out. Much like his other books, it is well written but not particularly original. 
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whatmaddieread's review against another edition

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challenging reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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v_eda's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have extremely mixed feelings about this book, with the parts I don’t like feeling like Franzen is pausing the books to explain things to the reader (sexism,racism) that he has no idea about. I also thought that the mom’s backstory should be spread out more instead of being in a 100-page chunk in the middle.
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merricat_inthecastle's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
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clarissas's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
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