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Pre-Reading Note To Self/Internet: It looks like this is a very, very contentious, love-it-or-hate-it kinda book, at least according to the near 50/50 split amongst my GR-friends of one star reviews v. four/five star reviews.

I was preemptively on the fence about Franzen before discovering the apparently contentious nature of the book. If it's possible to be even more on the fence about something (and I'm not so sure it is) then I am. This contentiousness makes the whole situation more interesting.

So I was Christmas shopping at Borders (sorry for the corporate betrayal, Greg and karen!) and on my way to the check out line (with a dumb DVD for my sister, a mediocre DVD for my Dad and a awesome DVD for my brother*) I saw a paperback on the shelf for $3.99, gave it about a 20 second mulling over and grabbed it up.



*The Proposal, some Civil War documentary and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (he didn't ask for it, but I love it and am 99% sure he will as well). Christmas is the time for giving people DVDs and has been for the last few years. I used to buy them books, but they don't go over as well.

I came away from a reading of the first 100 or so pages, and a skimming sample of the rest, thinking the novel glib and facile, and wondering what good Delillo and David Foster Wallace, among other prestigious blurbers, found in it ("reminds us why we read serious fiction in the first place"? Oh please). That's glib, facile, and grossly unfair, given that I never finished the book and missed the resolution of a possibly profound design, but there it is. Just this morning I came across my copy while cleaning under my bed, where it was keeping company with dustbunnies and an empty wine bottle; and there it stayed.

Yes, DVDs are the best gifts! As long as Katt Williams puts out DVDs, I'll buy them. My sister will one day boast of owning his Complete Works.

Yeah, his friendship with my literary hero David Foster Wallace really throws me off, makes me nervous, etc. The first time I ever encountered the name Jonathan Franzen was while watching this round table discussion about the present (c. 1996) state of literature on The Charlie Rose show featuring DFW, Mark Leyner and Franzen and I thought DFW was the only one who came off well at all. Basically I thought Franzen sucked based on this. Then I found out that the two of them became friends over the years, and so on. I may have to give DFW some guff for propping up Franzen. Which makes me uneasy. Of course this isn't a big deal in all actuality. If I have to find flaws in Wallace, better they be in his choice of friends, rather than with his work.

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang kicks ass!

Hell yeah! Totally underappreciated and far too unknown as well.

I haven't read this, but my impression of Franzen is that he relies heavily on the dysfunctional family shtick. I think that device has been used way too much over the last twenty years and wish it would just go away for awhile. *slides soapbox back under bed*

Your $3.99 comment made me smile, as every used bookstore in this area has at least one copy of this title in stock at that price point. I assume that this is the result of post-Oprah book of the month Spring cleaning, but maybe there was a "The Corrections in every pot" proviso hidden in the Patriot Act or something...

I hear you loud and clear on the overuse of the dysfunctional families theme.

It was actually a new copy. It must be some kinda Borders bargain bin extravaganza for the holidays. I also scored a new hardcover edition of Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought for $5.99! For that one there was an almost comical lack of mulling it over. I just saw it as I walked in, made a very purposeful B line to it and scooped it up immediately after seeing the price. I even might not have stopped walking. Just picked it up mid-stride.

Actually, The Corrections for $3.99 is a bit of a ripoff at this point. I've seen it for anywhere from $1.99-$2.99 in a handful of bookstores. For Borders, $3.99's a good deal, but if you go to a book warehouse (there's one near me called Daedalus) or a used book store, you can definitely get the Corrections for less.

I'm going to try to read this one in the next few months. I started reading it right when it came out but then quit it about halfway through and never picked it up again. I enjoyed the 200 or so pages I read, I just got sidetracked at the time.

Oh man, this book was so terrible. I couldn't even get past the first chapter. And THREE people gave me copies of it! WTF.

Damn my impulse purchase!

So I just saw a brand new copy of this at my local library on the sale rack for 50 cents. I now believe in God. A petty, prankster God.

If I worked at the library, I'd have priced it a nickel. :)

Re #12 - Times like this I wish that there was a "like" vote for comments...

I really liked this book a lot! Started it when it first came out,and read the whole thing. I thought it was great at the time,and all my friends read it,and liked it too. Maybe I am a bit bias because Franzen is from St.Louis??? Maybe, but honestly I thought it was very well written,and an engaging story. I came from a dysfunctional family, so, maybe I can make a much stronger connection due to that.

I have this on my shelf but am wary of Franzen also. He's the number one "I'm going to write an essay on what I think is the 'right' kind of fiction because it happens to be the kind of fiction that I write" guy. See his essay on Gaddis: "Mr. Difficult". I hate getting theories on the 'best type of fiction' from authors who have a new book out...and these come around too frequently.

I'm with you 100% there, Bram. I read a great rejoinder to Franzen's essay that went down in the pages of Harper's by a very cool experimental (in the best sense of the term, I'd say) writer, Ben Marcus:

by Ben Marcus

Ah yes, thanks. I vaguely remember reading that at some point but it was definitely time for a reread (at least of the available intro). I have to admit that I'm more sympathetic to Marcus's perspective--i.e. that serious and/or difficult fiction is an absolutely absurd scapegoat for the current state of fiction reading in the US. And why does he single out Gaddis as someone to pick on? Why not at least go for someone with an audience--say, Pynchon or Roth.

Bram wrote: "And why does he single out Gaddis as someone to pick on?"

1) He's suffering from the worst kind of disease: contrarianism for the sake of contrarianism.

2) He's a moron.

3) A little from column 1, a little from column 2.

You should give Ben Marcus a read sometime. He writes unapologetically surreal novels. I've only read one so far (The Age of Wire and String which was so strange and so interesting), but really look forward to more. The Father Costume sounds very promising to me.

Awesome, thanks for the heads up.

Bram wrote: "Awesome, thanks for the heads up."

My pleasure. In this review of it Jimmy and I broached the subject of Marcus going on the counter-attack against Franzen's "Mr. Difficult":

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Yeah, good points there. Franzen definitely makes the (ridiculous) leap of assuming what's too difficult for him is too difficult for anyone, and that anyone who says they like these books must therefore be full of shit and trying to impress someone/everyone (i.e. be in the Status club). It seems this is a common and comfortable belief to hold and it's probably the basis for a lot of anti-elitism. For obvious reasons, many people love to be told that doing hard things is not actually good for them/not edifying/not even enjoyable.

I think Franzen wanted/wants desperately to be as interesting as Wallace when it comes time to sit down and do interviews and write nonfiction pieces about literature. He just takes the desire and runs off into la-la land with it. It's embarrassing. DFW took on the excesses of postmodern, experimental fiction (like in that amazing interview that I sent you once) and I think Franzen is basically making a severely mutated clone of it. Wallace's input on the subject (and this was also back in a different literary landscape of 1991 not 2005-present) was much more balanced, interesting, valid, etc. His was a beautifully-bred stallion to Franzen's botched clone with one leg, blind, suffering, etc, that needs to be put out of its misery, and I see the Marcus response as the merciful bullet. The metaphor's not perfect and whipped up on the spot, of course, but I think you get it.

I like that metaphor, and I completely agree with the sentiment. DFW was able to talk about these issues intelligently, passionately, and considerately. He made insightful observations without coming across as an offensive, populist ass clown. And Franzen didn't even have anything insightful to say--most of it's just wrong and self-biased.