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A review by ashrafulla
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
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.