Franzen, Jonathan - The Corrections
I read The Corrections for the first time in 2002 when I was a junior in high school. At this point, reading a 539-page opus would prove to be a validating experience not due to its content, but merely because of its length. I blew through it paying no attention to detail or significance, leaving me with a very thick book and nothing to show for it. Fast forward to September of 2005 and I am a junior in college. I went to Powell’s with my bookaholic roommate and saw the novel in the bargain aisle for a measly $10.98 and decided that I would tackle the monster for a second time during the time between lying down for the evening and finally falling asleep. This time however, I was determined to gather more than bragging rights. What I discovered was a novel that not only showcased some of the finest usage of the English language encountered in recent literary memory, but also a tremendous story of dysfunction and forgiveness through the medium of a dysfunctional family. The real power contained by the book lies in the fact that we have all met these people before. It may have been in a restaurant or a dinner party or an elevator, but every member of the fictitious family has a face in the mind of the reader.
The book starts by immediately hurling the reader into the seemingly mundane lives of Alfred and Enid Lambert, an elderly couple living the midwestern small town of St. Jude. In poignant and sometimes excruciating detail, author Jonathan Franzen describes not simply the activities performed by the aging couple, but the nuances of every emotive tendency. As you read this now, you may not feel as though you are interested in the exclusive insight into the lives of strangers that Franzen provides in The Corrections, but I assure you that even the smallest details (including but not limited to the names of family friends, hallucinations/dreams, erotic lesbian encounters, pictures painted on plates with undesirable rutabaga at supper time by a disillusioned young boy, et cetera) are entirely engrossing. Franzen then, methodically and meticulously, leads the reader through the lives of each of Alfred and Enid’s three children, finally culminating the final Christmas they will all spend together in St. Jude at their mother’s request. The final gathering of the family proves to be an underwhelming encounter between the five individuals, leaving the reader as frustrated as the characters seem to be when the exchange ends.
The brief segments of plot are few and far between amidst the vast quantities of background covered in the novel, causing certain sections to feel tedious and difficult. This phenomenon proves to be confusing because when The Corrections is over, it still feels as though it needed more length. In retrospect, the detail involved in the construction of the story seems sufficient, but the ending has an incomplete aura that can be either frustrating or refreshing depending on the reader. One of The Corrections’ greatest accomplishments is its ability to establish itself as a book with all of the draw of one of the great literary classics, only with subject matter that is, at its essence, ordinary and realistic. Ultimately, Franzen proves himself as a storyteller and novelist in this immensely interesting novel. It will most certainly solidify in the minds of readers for a long period of time.
File Under: Corrections
Posted on April 1, 2006 12:00 AM
