Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections

[HamdenRice]

Sometimes it is possible to understand how a book works, how the author made the book work, how he made his decisions, and sometimes it isn't. Last summer I read The Corrections and remember the reading experience was a thrilling ride. I really couldn't put it down, and the reason seemed to be (I'm almost sad to say) Franzen's ability to mercilessly humiliate his repressed Mid Western characters.

But what I find really mysterious is Franzen's capacity for plot -- an unusual characteristic for what is essentially a drama of family emotions. There are a few plot turns that are staggeringly unlikely, but that seem perfectly (Mid Westernly) normal in the universe of The Corrections -- Chip's discovering on a plane to Lithuania that his mysterious Lithuanian gangster patron has laptop video of Chip having sex with the gangster's girlfriend; Enid have a polite meal and conversation on a cruise ship as her Alzheimers demented husband falls past where she is sitting into the sea; Gary sneaking a drink in his kitchen realizing that his children are watching him on a video camera; and almost out of a bedroom farce, Denise being caught at the same time by both a husband and wife each of whom she is sleeping with.

It makes me wonder whether he plotted such strange twists on graph paper! Yet, the book doesn't flow like a highly plotted novel. I would love to hear how he came up with his ideas.

Anyone else have any opinions on The Corrections?

[enough]

1. I loved the book, found it hilariously funny and painfully realistic,

even given the plot quirks.

I read it once on paper and once in audio, loved it both times. The second time was about a year after my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's/dementia. Franzen is dead on about what happens to the world when Alzheimer's enters the family.

This book is very high on my list of all-time favorites, though I know several people who hated it.

[Paladin]

2. One Of My Favorite Books Of All Time

My God, can this guy write.

Favorite character: the mother. After the first hundred pages, I wanted to slit her throat; by the last page, I wanted to worship at her feet.......

[Boojatta]

3. Denise slept with the husband? What page is that on?

[pitohui]

4. who cares anymore? who remembers?

at the end of the day in his world the corrections were not a big deal

in our world, if you got "corrected" out of your job or out of your life it was prob. a pretty big deal to you!

in the post 9-11 world, this book looks ridiculous, it assumes the gradual changes and there are those geologists who believe in the gradualist world, me, i believe in the sudden snap...i live in new orleans the 21st century has been nothing but sudden sharp shocks

the quiet world of the editor making corrections seems ridiculous to me

hence the old thread where i said "no book became outdated more suddenly"

yes it was well written but he just got unlucky at the end of the day this book (which pretends to be slice of life/realistic type fiction) has no common ground with life as we know it...

[dotheteabag]

5. Franzen

The most overrated writer since St Paul.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Franzen's new novel pulped in UK, because corrections were missed

The moment the current darling of American letters, author Jonathan Franzen, realised that the UK hardback edition of his new novel was littered with mistakes was captured live on camera by the BBC.

It was during a recording for BBC2’s Friday night Review Show that Franzen became aware that his book, Freedom, was full of spelling and grammatical mistakes and missing alterations he had made to the final draft.

Breaking off midway through reading a paragraph for the show he said: “I’m realising to my horror that there is a mistake here that was corrected early in the galleys and is still in the f**king hardcover of the book.”

In the end hundreds of mistakes were discovered. Publisher HarperCollins has been forced to recall and pulp the first print run. Already 8,000 copies have been sold of the 80,000 already sent to the shops.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/franzen-catches-howlers-on-camera-1.1058869

BBC programme here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qcp6t (I don't know if that's viewabl in the US)