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friedchickensuicide's review against another edition
4.0
I tried to read The Corrections two years ago. I tried again a few months ago. Both times, I could not get beyond five pages. I remember wondering to myself, what's the big deal about this guy? With Freedom coming out and all, he was all over the web. When I dived into this new book of essays, I wanted only one thing: to get a taste of his writing in some sort of comprehensive manner. I am happy to say I got my wish. It turns out I really like how Mr.Franzen writes. I am going to read and re-read his two essays on DFW, they are pure gold. I also really enjoyed his reviews of various books, especially Alice Munro's Runaway. They demonstrate his vast erudition and his deep love for the art of fiction in delightful ways. The essays on bird-watching and that interview thing were engaging and entertaining, but quite not up to the level of the rest of the essays. I guess it's time to take out my copy of The Corrections and give it one more try.
n0niim's review against another edition
2.0
This book wasn't what I expected, as I didn't know many of the essays were reviews of other books.
The essays I did enjoy, I enjoyed very much.
The essays I did enjoy, I enjoyed very much.
kristianawithak's review against another edition
4.0
Perfectly suited for my mood. My only complaint is the order of the essays. It is most recent first and you, as the reader, move farther from the present. The first two essays are more personal than the book forwards that conclude the collection. I would rather the order be reversed or structured in a way that held my attention all the way through to the end. I am becoming quite a fan of Franzen.
ericfheiman's review against another edition
3.0
Basically a combination of five-star signature essays and one-star filler. But even Franzen filler is better than most of the other nonfiction writing out there. "Pain Won't Kill You" should be required reading for just about everyone, and is a wonderful companion to David Foster Wallace's "This Is Water" commencement speech.
pearloz's review against another edition
3.0
The best part about reading a collection of essays and reviews: you can skip one if you hate it. There were more about birds and birding than I anticipated, but he has enlightened me to a few books I'm def going to try, and I found his writing about DFW endearing.
lowlandsbeach's review against another edition
2.0
I thought a lot of the essays were somewhat dull and boring. I'm not interested in the author's reviews of other people's books. The short story about the brothers was weird and dull. I didn't get the nuances of the interview with New York so that didn't appeal either. The essay about the Chinese puffin was quite good but too long, quite informative. Also informative was the essay about Europeans eating and shooting songbirds, and is still tragically a happening thing https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/songbirds-cyprus-nets-trap-killed-b2021678.html
mmmbooqz's review against another edition
3.0
hit and miss yet incredibly insightful collection. some essays excitedly universal, some super specific and a bit long to really continue. id be so excited to see this in a waiting room.
daniell's review against another edition
4.0
After digesting this collection of various essays from 2011-2006, a few things are clear:
-JF sees the world as a swirling mess of indefinite meaning, a bath of complex factors, an array of conflicting, unresolved tones. This more than anything else is the single meaning through which this book might be read.
-JF loves fiction and this collection includes many reviews of novels. After reading his reviews I am excited to read these suggestions. Seemingly all of the books reviewed were ambiguous in meaning, and this seems owing to his penchant for either ambiguity or ambiguous literature.
-JF is a much a novelist as a reporter, and many of these pieces are excellent articles of extended journalism in the theme of adventure-essay, the best one being his story linking the faux-animal driver cover to their production factory in China, to an economic tour or the region, to a brush with local bird watchers.
-JF likes birds. Another essay here covers the state of bird hinting in Malta and the veritable swirl of human complexity surrounding overharvesting, regional traditions of consumption, and the moral implications of it all.
-The flagship essay is great, claiming David Brooks' Sydney Award for 2011, and is a sustained meditation on loneliness, internal strength, and the natural world. Franzen is well-connected to the world of passion and feeling that his late friend DFW fought with till his death. Franzen's depiction of DFW is surprisingly unsympathetic, but neither is it mean, it's simply an observation of the man's life as one on a somewhat self-imposed island. The sense of salty desolation this essay impresses remains vivid to me.
-Second to "Farther Away" (the second selection) is the first selection, his speech to Kenyon College upon graduation. "Pain Won't Kill You" is his message, and for having no real action plan, no three-step agenda, and no conventional pieties, it is clear: life is pain, pain is coming to you in ways you will not expect and cannot foresee, and that is an okay thing; be of good cheer.
I recall attempting to read "How To Be Alone," a book of essays he published in 2003, and seriously disliking his sentence structures. He is much more readable in this collection, auguring nothing but an upward trend for his future output.
-JF sees the world as a swirling mess of indefinite meaning, a bath of complex factors, an array of conflicting, unresolved tones. This more than anything else is the single meaning through which this book might be read.
-JF loves fiction and this collection includes many reviews of novels. After reading his reviews I am excited to read these suggestions. Seemingly all of the books reviewed were ambiguous in meaning, and this seems owing to his penchant for either ambiguity or ambiguous literature.
-JF is a much a novelist as a reporter, and many of these pieces are excellent articles of extended journalism in the theme of adventure-essay, the best one being his story linking the faux-animal driver cover to their production factory in China, to an economic tour or the region, to a brush with local bird watchers.
-JF likes birds. Another essay here covers the state of bird hinting in Malta and the veritable swirl of human complexity surrounding overharvesting, regional traditions of consumption, and the moral implications of it all.
-The flagship essay is great, claiming David Brooks' Sydney Award for 2011, and is a sustained meditation on loneliness, internal strength, and the natural world. Franzen is well-connected to the world of passion and feeling that his late friend DFW fought with till his death. Franzen's depiction of DFW is surprisingly unsympathetic, but neither is it mean, it's simply an observation of the man's life as one on a somewhat self-imposed island. The sense of salty desolation this essay impresses remains vivid to me.
-Second to "Farther Away" (the second selection) is the first selection, his speech to Kenyon College upon graduation. "Pain Won't Kill You" is his message, and for having no real action plan, no three-step agenda, and no conventional pieties, it is clear: life is pain, pain is coming to you in ways you will not expect and cannot foresee, and that is an okay thing; be of good cheer.
I recall attempting to read "How To Be Alone," a book of essays he published in 2003, and seriously disliking his sentence structures. He is much more readable in this collection, auguring nothing but an upward trend for his future output.