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Horribly depressing. Well-written, though.
The start is very strong. Author uses his remarkable vocabulary, storytelling ability, and his disregard for political-correctness. The book is divided in five chapters and in first Franzen describes in detail how he chose the wrong realtor to sell his mother's house.I believe he uses this start as an introduction where tries to bring a reader closer to his continual disappointment over strict, provincial parents and how mother's opinions have deeply influenced his life. Franzen reflects back to...
I enjoyed some of the stories of him as a kid, especially the Christian stuff, less so his school exploits. However, I am not a fan of writer-as-hero books with context, and other characters, left fuzzy, and so I found the book mostly pretty tedious.
All my books nowadays come from the English section of the library in Oslo, so a smaller selection than I've ever experienced. I chose this book only for it's title. And I knew I'd heard of Franzen, but couldn't remember what. The book travels through time while the main character, who seems to be Franzen himself,remembers his childhood, his teenage years, young adulthood, adulthood when his mother died, his divorce, his subsequent relationship and eventual immersion in bird watching as a hobby....
I've only recently become aware that Jonathan Franzen exists, so when I saw this book at my local bookstore for the price of a meagre 3 euros, I sort of had to buy it. Tbh, I wouldn't have minded paying a bit more now that I've read it.It's a great book all in all. Franzen gives us a relatable look at his early life; he explores and portrays the Franzen family dynamics, proclaims his love for the Peanuts (esp. Snoopy), recalls his boyhood antics, talks about his non-existent sex life as a young
I came to this memoir because the description hints at Franzen's experiences with a Christian youth group in the 70s, and I can report that, YES, you can find the source material for Crossroads right here! First published in 2006 (so between The Corrections and Freedom), there's a strong theme of religion going through the whole text. Starting with 40ish Franzen trying to sell his mother's house after her passing, we get a kaleidoscope of stories from the past that illuminate how the author beca...
I spent the weekend at the beach, but I thought I might wind up enjoying something, so I brought along the gloomiest Gus in town, Jonathan Franzen.Here's the thing. Franzen is the only mainstream American culture (he's been on Oprah and the cover of Time, and as far as I'm concerned that puts him at Miley Cyrus levels of mainstream for the middle-aged, -class, and-Western) who actually spits venom at the system. I appreciate this.Here he unleashes his rage against himself and his various insecur...
I read the New York Times’ review of The Discomfort Zone earlier today. The Times’ conclusion after reading was that Jonathan Franzen is hopelessly self-absorbed. I don’t disagree, but I don’t think that’s such a terrible thing. We’re all self-absorbed and at least Franzen had the good sense to use it for comedy.Anyways, onward with my review…I enjoyed learning more about Franzen as a person. I liked seeing how his personal experiences (fascination with birds, environmentalism, strange relations...
Franzen trying to dissect his own existence isn't quite as thrilling as Franzen dissecting the existence of the characters in his novels, but this definitely has its moments, and unlike so many memoir-ish books, this has no interest in romanticizing anything from out of the past, in fact when it works well, it does so because it reminds you that a mid-western, middle class upbringing (I'm telegraphing myself into this now) is usually just full of a lot of petty little triumphs and disappointment...
Franzen is a good writer, but leaves you with that nagging feeling that you wouldn't like him if you met him. He's awfully self-absorbed. Still, I really enjoyed this dream he relates - and he seems to be aware there's much truth in it:“...I had a nightmare about the Averys’ sweet-tempered German shepherd, Ina. In the dream, as I was sitting on the floor in the Averys’ living room, the dog walked up to me and began to insult me. She said I was a frivolous, cynical, attention-seeking “fag” whose
I like the parallels in this essay/memoir. I read it mostly to get and idea of what the author was like first hand. Being "that guy" I hate fan-boying regardless of how much fun it is – I enjoyed the voyeuristic aspects and connections I made to the works of his I have read. He bounces around a lot and that's ok, it's his book. Bird watching isn't something I have thought about in such depth, mind you, I do take time during the day to "watch the birds" if one or more flit buy, or land in my path...
