I just finished my first book of the new year, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.
According to Stuff White People Like, a white person cannot go into Target and buy the one or two things they were looking for. This person has to scavenge the aisles for “bargains” and “deals,” and leave the store exclaiming, “Look at all I bought for only $120!!” I am so guilty. On my first trip back to the superstore after being abroad for a year, I loaded my cart with the essentials (toothpaste, body lotion, etc.) and somewhere along the way I blacked out. While checking out at the register I noticed that a few more items finagled their way into my possession and thus I became the new owner of Freedom.
This book gained insta-fame when it was announced to be apart of “Oprah’s Bookclub.” This label tends to turn me off as I find her “chosen ones” to be more entertainment pieces rather than literary, and often not that enjoyable. A book I would suggest under the same label is The Help; that was simply a stunning book. Franzen’s new novel arrives nine years after his previous work, The Corrections, and after reading it I can confirm it was certainly worth the wait.
When I told my friend Kelsey, who also has bought Freedom, that I was reading this book she told me her mom, a local librarian, said that she would not like any of the characters, but would ultimately love the book. How true that is. Each character in the novel is either highly narcissistic, disengaged, stubborn, or selfish, and all are angry. Franzen tells a story about a dysfunctional family and their struggles in the first decade of the 21st century. Having written most of the book in 2009, he is able to correctly read the tone of the nation during these pivotal years after 9/11 and remark that we were, and to some degree still are, angry. We are angry at what happened to our country and how it was handled. We are angry at the people trying to make sense of and clean up the mess. We turn our anger at those we love the most because we know they will be there in the end.
Photo Courtesy of goodreads.com
Jonathan Franzen examines what can happen to four extraordinarily different people who are full of either stifled or flagrant rage and given too much freedom. Patty Berglund, the mother, has no job and the freedom to stay at home with her kids, and ultimately lose sight of herself; Walter Berglund, the father, is given freedom by his seemingly laid-back wife to the point that he feels neglected; their son, Joey, has freedom as an adolescent and virtually no consistent guidance through his formative years; Richard Katz, a family friend, moves as a vagabond through society with the freedom to do as he pleases, leading him to a life of isolation.
The novel is most certainly not upbeat and heartwarming. But, it is very thoughtful and asks the reader to contemplate how she uses her freedom. Is a life free from boundaries always a good one? True to the librarian’s word, I closed the book not liking the characters very much. I left it, however, with a more insightful view of the struggles a family faces despite being “free.”
Recommendation: Absolutely.
Click here to listen to Jonathan Franzen talk about his new book.
A Broad At Home 