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There's was no way for me to read Freedom and not compare it to The Corrections. No chance. I fiercely loved The Corrections and was expecting to love Freedom so much less than I actually did. It was probably a little unfair to go into it with that attitude, I just assumed this was a rebound book and the reviews are so mixed. But I was pulled into the story instantly and was enthralled 99% of the time. That's pretty darn good for a 600-odd page book.

The similarities between the two books are sparklingly clear. Unlikeable, uptight, troubled, upper-class ,white characters living unhappy privileged lives. We write what we know, right? I guess this is what Franzen knows and he writes about it really well. Dysfunction, regret, depression, suppression, disillusionment - these are things we all know, unless you're one of the only people alive who didn't have an even remotely troubled parent, sibling, relative, friend or self.

The character of Patty Berglund was, to me, so painfully realistic that I ate up her chapters eagerly. "Mistakes were made" she starts off. And indeed, her life, her marriage, her mothering all became inevitably soured by her painful childhood and traumatic teenage experience. Admittedly, I'm a sucker for a good angst book. And this character and this book pierced so deeply and beautifully, so authentically, so completely...I battled with being unable to put the book down (more more more, gimme more) and wanting to delay finishing it. Patty is as despicable as any Franzen character and for that I loved her.

Criticisms:
(1) Richard Katz made me cringe. He was just a little bit too much of a caricature. All I could picture was a slightly less tragic and more attractive Bret Michaels. Minus the diabetes and the reality shows. But I recognize what Franzen was trying to do with Richard and with Walter for that matter. Two halves, two extremes, two exaggerations. Beautifully done. Even if Patty's infatuation with Richard was tiresome and predicable.
(2) The politics got so heavy handed at times it would be easy to be very very annoyed. And I almost was. Even though I agree with Franzen's stance on conservation and admire that he writes about it, I don't enjoy having any author's politics rammed down my throat in such an obvious way. A lil subtlety wouldn't go astray. The character of Walter and his zealousness with environmental issues, while obviously in part existed to fill the gaping hole in his life and marriage and serve as an outlet for his demise, it was just a bit OTT.

Franzen has an impeccable way of capturing what it feels like to live in The United States today. His pop-culture references, his politics, his overall sense of the current climate of life encapsulated in very good, serious, teeth-sinkable, witty fiction. I can see people reading this in 50 years, 100 years, and truly getting what it was like to be a young-middle-aged person right here right now.