Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I fear that, like Lena Dunham, Franzen is someone whose "love to hate him!" persona is actually not a distraction from the greatness of his work, but, secretly, the most interesting thing about him. Is that harsh? He is a very good writer, no doubt. And I tend to defend a lot of the clueless things he says in the media as guileless but refreshingly honest. But reading Purity, I came to the unsettling conclusion that his issues with women are not, in fact, just a personality clash with Jennifer Weiner, but an actual blind spot and handicap that lowers the quality of his work.
Lucy, the female character in the book to whom I related the most - one of, or perhaps the only, women who consistently communicates her needs directly, albeit clumsily - is described as "[not] fat, but getting a little Moosewoody in the face and thighs" (in reference to her enjoyment of baking and consuming desserts from the Moosewood cookbook) - a description so deliciously apt, and yet so ... misogynistic, particularly in contrast to the character of her quasi-anorexic friend Anabel, and the uncontrollable attraction that the current narrator, Tom (who seems to be a clear Franzen stand-in, baby face and all) has to "the thinness of her upper arms."
Pip, the main character, is described physically in broad strokes, but early on in the book we are reassured, by an ostensibly upsetting, but clearly important to include, text message from a guy she's just made out with, that she has a "nice face, fantastic body."
The book is populated by women who are either fantastically gorgeous (Annagret, Anabel, all the interns), specifically unattractive to the narrator(s) (Moosewoody Lucy, Tom's mother with her steroid-inflated face), or, like Pip and Leila, not overtly gorgeous but, no worries, actually super attractive once you look closely.
From someone as smart as Franzen, this doesn't feel like a simple oversight, but rather like the unsettling revelation of a worldview that I can't abide by.
Now, off to bake some vegan deserts, which I plan to eat with gusto. Lucies of the world, feel free to come over and share. Let's talk about all those "nice" baby faced guys who messed with our heads before we were smart enough to know better.