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Did Jonathan Franzen deliberately set out to write a novel illustrating the four existential givens and people's struggles with them? If so, he did a great job of it. The four richly drawn main characters of Freedom, Patty, Walter, Richard, and Joey, all fight against death anxiety, meaninglessness, freedom, and isolation in their lives.

Patty, a competitive athlete, meets Walter and Richard in college. Walter is a straight-laced law student who almost immediately falls for Patty and is completely devoted to her; Richard is a wild rocker high in animal magnetism and low in stability. Despite Patty's crush on Richard, she ends up marrying Walter and moving to the suburbs with him, determined to be the perfect suburban housewife to him and mom to Jessica and Joey. Freedom follows the twists and turns of Patty, Walter, Richard, and Joey's lives over the next several decades.

I loved Franzen's rich characterization; though not particularly likeable, these characters were understandable in their decisions even if watching them choose their paths was often akin to watching a car accident in slow motion. Franzen never preached or pointed out the existential nature of his characters' issues and I loved the way this thread subtly ran through the book, somehow lending the everyday events that were described a great deal of meaning.

What I liked less was the often bleak nature of the characters and the consequences they experienced. Sometimes I felt as if Franzen was painfully illustrating to us that humans suck and life sucks, that people blind themselves to all kinds of things and then end up mistreating others and being mistreated in turn. Add to that some stomach-turning graphic descriptions of masturbation and phone sex (and I'm not someone who's usually very offended by these things, but this was really over the top), and you have the deletion of a star from the rating.

But I couldn't take off more than that, no matter how nauseous the book made me at times. It was just too good. I loved the writing. I loved the characterization. I loved the believability. I loved Franzen's ability to pull me in to the world he created. And I loved the fact that, in spite of everything, the characters grew and changed from their imperfect selves to greater maturity by the end of the book, but not to a degree that was unrealistic or unbelievable.

Freedom may not have been a perfect book, but it was certainly involving and gave me quite a bit to chew on. I can't ask for much more than that.