The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen's exhilarating novel The Corrections tells a spellbinding story with horny comic brio, and evokes a quirky family akin to Anne Tyler's, solely bitter. Franzen's great at describing Christmas homecomings gone awry, cruise-ship follies, self-deluded lecturers, breast-obsessed screenwriters, stodgy old farts and edgy Tribeca bohemians equally at sea in their lives, and the mad, dangerous, dangerous worlds of the Internet growth and the fissioning publish-Soviet East.
If some authors are masters of suspense, others postmodern verbal acrobats, and still others complex-character pointillists, few excel in all three arenas. In his lengthy-awaited third novel, Franzen does. Unlike his previous works, The twenty seventh City (1988) and Sturdy Movement (1992), which tackled St. Louis and Boston, respectively, this one skips from city to metropolis (New York; St. Jude; Philadelphia; Vilnius, Lithuania) as it follows the delamination of the Lambert household Alfred, as soon as a rigid disciplinarian, flounders towards Parkinson's-induced dementia; Enid, his loyal and embittered spouse, lusts for the perfect Midwestern Christmas; Denise, their daughter, launches the hippest restaurant in Philly; and Gary, their oldest son, grapples with despair, whereas Chip, his brother, attempts to shore his eroding self-confidence by joining forces with a self-mocking, Eastern-Bloc politician.
As in his other novels, Franzen blends these personal dramas with expert technical cartwheels and savage commentary on bigger social points, such because the imbecility of laissez-faire parenting and the farcical nature of U.S.-Third World relations. The result's a ebook made of equal parts fury and humor, one that takes a dry-eyed take a look at our culture, at our pains and insecurities, whereas providing hope that, occasionally a minimum of, we can attain some form of understanding. This is, simply, a masterpiece. Agent, Susan Golomb. (Sept.)Forecast: Franzen has always been a writer's writer and his previous novels have earned important admiration, but his sales have not but reached the level of, say, Don DeLillo at his hottest. Still, if the ancillary rights sales and the excitement at BEA are any indication, The Corrections must be his breakout book. Its various subject matter will endear it to a style-crossing part of followers (both David Foster Wallace and Michael Cunningham contributed rave blurbs) and FSG's publicity marketing campaign will guarantee loads of press. QPB main, BOMC alternate. International rights offered in the U.K., Denmark, Holland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Spain. Nine-city creator tour.
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