The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen

Isn’t it heartening that we have such good living writers?
 
What I get out of reading contemporary generational books about middle-class America is, from a shifted angle, a view of my own English experience, and a reminder me of how the wider world has changed. From an uptight, rules-observing society to an uptight narcissistic individualism in which no individual feels complete. Where we go from here is anyone’s guess.
 
Franzen’s skill in depicting the lives of family members from their varied points of view is there again in Freedom, also humorous, also sad and insightful. Of the two, I found The Corrections somehow fuller and more satisfying.