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The Corrections

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After almost 50 years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease, and their children are all making catastrophes of their own lives. Enid however, has her heart set on one last family Christmas.

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Customer Reviews

Overrated, Overwrought, OverhypedDon't care how many awards they give this book - it's hideous. Overwrought, almost luxuriating in misery and despair, there's not a single saving grace here. This book just shows how whacked the judgment of today's critics are. You know what? I don't think they even read it. 1A great book by a great authorI honestly can't understand why 22% of reviewers have chosen to give The Corrections a measly one star and 13% have given it 2. My best explanation perhaps, is that the expectations and hype were in overdrive and when the book came out and wasn't 100% perfect - there's your one and two star reviews. A second explanation is that, perhaps, the publicity generated around the book's release introduced a new kind of book to a group of readers not used to reading books in the spirit of gass, pynchon, dellilo, wallace, etc.Anyway I think the book is great and satisfies long-forgotten DFW type itches. Also to those 'soap opera critics' or plot critics (and I am NOT among them), I would say look at the form, this is an author who loves having fun with words and double-meanings and all kinds of verbal hijinks, and if you're only looking at the plot you're missing the boat.Also, if your feeling is that the book (or books in general) should include some big moral or didactic theme I would refer you to oscar wilde, who said 'art is perfectly useless' - and joyce, nabakov, flaubert and company who all felt the same way.I have read and enjoyed books by pynchon, dellilo, wallace, eggars, etc and enjoyed The Corrections. It is literary and dark and bright and indulgent and empty and full. 5A Brilliant Dark Baroque Verbal Symphony of a Tragic Humpty Dumpty American Father's Senile Decline and FallThis is a brilliant novel about the end of life of the parents and the intricate details of how this develops and ends around a final Christmas get-together. The writing is over the top in its investigation of the minutiae of the main players which includes a total of five, two parents and three children in adult mid-life. At the core is the father who is crumbling with Alzheimers and other old age limitations the novel delves into the psychological history of the grown children, two sons and a daughter. It's sad, pathetic and linguistically overcooked; there are difficult scenes and wretched excess that disgusts the delicate reader; fact is the end of life with mental failure and loss of bodily control is not a pretty painting by any means and the Lutheran like Midwest darkness of the viewpoint is depressing and seemingly hopeless although by the collapse of the seniors of the family the great father figure has oozed into infancy and as often true the mother figure saddles up and keeps on riding into the future of the optimistic healing nature of long livers who just don't take prisoners and keep on going to the final end whoever that turns out to survive. Writing style is truly psychologically intricate and worthy of remark but the overall mindscape is bleak and promises little hope unless you're one of the "tough" pioneer survivors of American middle class moneyed life and its inevitable petty familial cruelties due to rapacious capitalist meanness. It was overwritten and probably needed to have a third cut, trimmed and honed toward a leaner less baroque verbal display more in the tradition of Nathaniel West's cinematic leanness in Day of the Locust. Bergman would have enjoyed making a gray B&W film of this dreary novel. Beckett could have written a shorter, more humorously existential account with a little Irish tap room relief from the grinding deterioration of an American Humpty Dumpty clueless father figure. 4It's pretty good, folksSo I've read a lot of contradictory opinions regarding Franzen's books, this novel in particular, and the man himself. Some say Franzen is a genius and The Corrections is the best novel they've ever read. Others dismiss the dude as elitist blowhard and his prose as bloated and self-indulgent. While I can't comment on the qualities of Jonathan Franzen's character, having never met the man, I can at least offer the opinion that The Corrections is a very, very good book, although with some quirks that may prove off-putting for some readers.The central premise of the novel a dysfunctional family of five trying to gather together for one last Christmas serves as a kind of frame story, with every individual chapter delving into the backstory of a main character. Individual stories are not as cleanly separated as in Decameron or Canterbury Tales, though; author often switches to a different POV to show us same situation from different angles, and the narrative often shifts between past and present, showing us how this or that character's formative years made them what they are today. That Corrections is so character-focused can prove a big problem for some people, because all major and most of minor characters are extremely unlikable. They are paranoid, delusional, self-centered, unfaithful, manipulative, domineering (the list could go on forever, really), and their redeeming qualities are few. Nevertheless, none of them are bland or uninteresting, and you will quickly discover that although all of important characters are A-holes, there are actually many different degrees of A-hollery; who knows, maybe you'll even end up rooting for some of characters (or at least hate them less than others). The author even plays a little bait-and-switch where a seemingly most well-rounded and nice member of the family later turns out to be one of the worst human beings in the book.A lot of people here and elsewhere complained that the absence of sympathetic characters made the book unreadable for them. I beg to differ. Franzen's characters are unlikable, but they are hardly unsympathetic. Numerous flashbacks help us understand that they are hardly to blame for most of their shortcomings; in most cases no one is really to blame. Also, they are not quite unrealistic, and while Franzen is often extremely satirical in their depictions (for example, one of the family members thinks "At least I didn't become a religious fundamentalist like my father"; his sons are named Caleb, Jonah, and Aaron), they still don't devolve into outright caricatures. Speaking of caricatures, Franzen dishes out a lot of criticism aimed both left and right: academic feminists and racist bigots, Midwestern traditionalists and coastal elites, capitalists and socialists all get their due portion of witty barbs. On the other hand, while Franzen steps on a lot of toes, he is unlikely to continue stomping on any particular foot; his criticism is aimed at society in general, and the way it twists and corrupts individuals.Last, but not least, I've found Franzen's writing style to be pleasantly witty and well-flowing. I've had to re-read a couple of complex passages to actually get them, but the writing in general is not ponderous or self-indulging at all. I'd recommend Corrections to anyone interested in fiction with realistic and complex characters. 5A Beautiful BludgeoningIn my opinion, Franzen writes beautifully and can take a reader into the mind and soul of his characters better than any other contemporary author I've read. The reader will have empathy for the stoic, mentally deteriorating Alfred, can sympathize with the delusional disappointments of mother Enid, and feel the frustration of the helplessly manipulated Gary.That said, however, I had three issues with this book: First, enough already. Readers get paragraphs and paragraphs of emotional description. I GOT it, Jonathan, in the first few lines of each paragraph; I didn't need to be beaten with your lovely words and impressive vocabulary. My immediate grasp of the nature of Franzen's characters was helped by the fact that I recognized much of my family in the characters and that underscores the beauty of this piece: the characters are remarkably well-drawn (as if) from real life. I just wanted a little less, an acknowledgment that I'm an intelligent person and I didn't need a brick-bat to the side of the head.Second, while it was painfully easy to experience the terrors and disappointments and insecurities of the Lambert family, I found no joy in their experiences. Even when Franzen describes the sexual encounters and the career successes of these flawed people, events that should have brought them a measure of fulfillment or happiness, I could not feel their elation. I wanted the balance that is in most lives. I wanted to feel the intensity of the highs in the same way as Franzen was able to make me understand his characters' lows.Third (and lastly), I was less than enamored with Franzen's techno-babble. The minutiae of drug-testing techniques, convoluted political machinations, and other peripheral background is provided in mind-numbing detail which interrupted the flow of the narrative. The last Franzen book I read ("Freedom") had a far better balance of information as background vs. data that filled pages without enlightening the reader with respect to the story. It reminded me of the painful detail Michener provides in the opening chapters of most of his book about the geological formation of the area -- information that is interesting if one is a student of the subject, but sleep-provoking otherwise (and rarely relevant to the overall narrative). I used to skip the first chapter of every Michener book; unfortunately, Franzen's data-laden descriptions appear mid-chapter.However, as I said above, Franzen is a remarkable writer and student of human nature. His characters were very real. 3The dogs bark--the caravan moves onI was moved to come to this site because Franzen's latest book, "Freedom," is out just now in paperback. I stopped by the reviews of that book, then thought to come to see howthe reviewers were doing with "The Corrections." Well, things haven't changed much--still the wild divergence between the ones who get it and the ones who don't. It doesn'tmatter to the one-star people if virtually every critic in America raved about the book, or that it won the National Book Award. No, they don't like it and therefore ithas no merit. Period.My belief is that "The Corrections" is a book which will not only last, but will rise like cream, until it is known to be one of the best books written in a half-century. If you arestopping by just to decide whether or not to read the book, I hope it is my finger on the scale which tips you toward buying it. You will love it. You will laugh, you will cry,and you will finish the book a wiser person. My best to anybody who reads this. 54 1/2 Stars -- Just What I Needed!I was unaware of the controversy involving Oprah, when the novel first appeared years ago, but it would not have deterred me. I read a few (professional) reviews recently and decided it was my kind of book.And thank God. After being mired in lesser works for the last couple of reads (having been coaxed by over the top hype), it is such a treat to read a writer who is interested in portraying life in the raw without the tricks and manipulations of those kinds of "whodunnits."Here, the writer is counting on the reader to come to his pages with a modicum of life experience, to have felt the self-doubt and angst of at least one of his characters, whether it be the parents or the three children. Some books require a willingness not to be titillated page after page by artificial plotting along, with enough depth to identify with the trials of characters we may recognize as friends, neighbors, or members of our own families.To wit, the yearnings of Enid, a mother who has devoted her entire adult life to family, and who now feels irrelevant. Her only chance to live the remainder of her life un-tethered and meaningfully, would come as a result of the death of her husband, acerbic and willful Alfred who is completely immune to Enid's attempts at "corrections." A tragic dilemma. Tragic and real, because Alfred is tragic and real.Alfred is demented but he knows it. He has lost his mind and he tries his darnedest to end his life and give his wife the freedom she craves; but society is against him. Even his favorite son, Chipper, won't allow him this final act of dignity.He dies of course, but only after all that he was is dribbled away in embarrassing and humiliating encounters with his children and his futile attempts to end it all: at first with a shotgun, which is removed so that he can't blow himself away, then an effort to hang himself with his bed sheets, then hurling himself against a window, then raking his wrists with a dinner fork. It's all to no avail. In the end he has to refuse food and water in order to get his way."All of her correction had been for naught. He was as stubborn as the day she'd met him."Read The Corrections. And savor it. 5Better late than neverConfession: I ve resisted this book for years, in part because its author, Jonathan Franzen, has a reputation (deserved or not) for being something of a jerk. He s not exactly Mr. Warmth and Cheer on his talk-show appearances, and then there was that little issue with Oprah Winfrey.Also, reviews informed me that "The Corrections " plot concerns a middle-class family of five in the late-twentieth-century Midwest, with Depression-era parents and grown kids who flew the coop. I happen to hail from a middle-class family of five in the late-twentieth-century Midwest, with Depression-era parents and grown kids who flew the coop. I thought the book might hit a little too close to home, and so I took a pass.My mistake.Franzen is a spectacularly gifted writer. His insights and prose are endlessly inventive. He deftly mixes elements of Shakespearean tragedy with humor straight out of Kurt Vonnegut. He chooses the perfect word, the perfect phrase to illustrate his scenes. The major theme, in which members of The Greatest Generation and The Me Generation collide with societal change and with each other, is important to many Americans. National Book Award voters honored "The Corrections" in 2001, and justifiably so.However this was a novel that I admired more than I enjoyed. The characters, although fully realized and recognizable, are not what I d call endearing, and the reader is asked to spend 566 pages with them. Unless you grew up in a family much like the Lamberts (ahem) "The Corrections" might engage your mind but not so much your soul. -- grouchyeditor.com 4Eerie view of the Americana Family"The Corrections" is a sharp and witty novel about the family dynamics of the Lambert family. I really struggled initially trying to get through this book. My first attempt got me through about 1/4 of the book, at which point I forgot about it and left it alone. A few years later, I committed to getting through the whole thing, and I'm sure glad I did.Though dense, highly-descriptive, and sometimes featuring unnecessarily challenging diction, what this book offered was well-worth reading. Getting through some of the more elaborate and descriptive scenes often halted or interrupted my reading flow and subsequently threw me out of the story. But thankfully, the characters were so engrossing, so well-thought out, that my personal reading struggles were beside the point.I really enjoyed learning all the characters in this story, and found myself investing in their storylines. It's interesting that most of the time while reading this book, I kept anticipating something great, tragic or extreme. Thankfully, the novel stays pretty grounded in reality, which is oftentimes scarier than anything else. I liked this novel because it provided a realistic and authentic view of the characters. None of the characters are perfect, but also none of them are completely bad either. Like real life, the characters face various moral dilemmas, challenges of aging and growing apart, and discovering what it means to be one's own person, but also what it means to belong and be part of a family. 5Plot -3, Characters - 5, Theme - 4, Voice - 5, Setting - 4, Overall - 41) Plot (3 stars) - After her Midwestern family has grown apart--the kids scattered and corrupted by East Coast morals--one aging woman tries to bring them all together again for one last Christmas. It isn't much of a plot, but I kept reading for the tensions of each character's subplots, which were detailed and interesting.2) Characters (5 stars) - This is a story about a family, and each member is artfully crafted. All were very different, but yet still held a consistent thread of being forged in the same house. There's the father Alfred--once strong, proud, and repressed, the quintessential 1950s American man, now reduced to the helplessness and humility of Parkinson's disease. There's the wife Enid--the dutiful but passive aggressive spouse who believed in her husband's guidance only to come to the end of life and realize that he had guided them to nowhere worth going, and now silently wishes he would just get on with it an die, but then reprimands herself for such thoughts. There's the middle son Chip--so swollen with academic self-importance and cultural criticism, all to cover a hollow core of self-hatred and confusion. There's the older son Gary--caught in a mental health competition with his wife where any misstep will be proof that he is really just a copy of his depressed father and therefore should abdicate all family decision making to his wife. And there's Denise, the sexually-abused daughter who grows up to reject the male half of a married couple's advances, only to have an affair with the female half. As you can see, none of these characters are especially heroic or happy, but there's no denying they're fascinating and incredibly textured.3) Theme (4 stars) - I suppose the theme is something about the emptiness of American life. How whether you play by the rules or rebel, you end up spiritually vapid. Franzen explores this spiritual vapidity of America well. It is full of nuance and short on clich . But is this really the full picture? Isn't there joy and hope and moments of being spiritually satiated in this culture? Sure the structures aren't perfect, but they're not all hypocritical and hollow, are they? Maybe a full exploration wasn't the point. This is, after all, just the story of one family. But still, I was aching for just a little more happiness when I read it.4) Voice (5 stars) - Franzen can write, there's no doubt about that. His sentences are smooth and roll forward in wave after wave of precise external or internal or interpersonal descriptions. He plumbs the depths of everything his characters encounter.5) Setting (4 stars) - Minnesota, New York, Philadelphia, Lithuania. They were all backdrops for the characters' struggles. All were described well, with their nuances brought to the surface and dissected under Franzen's insightful prose.6) Overall (4 stars) - Throughout the book, I really wanted to give it 5 stars. It is, after all, an incredibly impressive work of art and examination of modern American emptiness. But I just felt like something was missing--something joyful--that left the picture too one-sided, too incomplete in the end. Also, there wasn't much of a plot. That said, I'd recommend it. 4

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