Another Review of Freedom
Another review of Freedom
Why do I keep posting these? For one thing, I like The Corrections. Liked, not loved. I agree with this reviewer that it is highly overrated--Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters deals with essentially similar subject matter in a much more profound way. (Aside: the other day at one blog or another, I read something that indicated that the amount of discussion of fecal matter in Family Matters rivalled that of any book published later than M. de Sade. I would beg to differ--one need only enter Franzen's world of excess.)
For another thing, I do intend, eventually to read Freedom. Each review potentially pushes that date into the future, but I don't mind; I'm not certain that it is really worth my time--but I do like Franzen's writing. There is a sense, I have about Mr. Franzen, a sense similar to that I experience after enjoying a Quentin Tarantino film: just as I'm waiting for the film that Quentin makes for adults, so I am waiting for the book that Mr. Franzen writes for adults. The difference is that Quentin is cool regardless, and if he never makes a movie for grown-ups, he's still a lot of fun. Mr. Franzen has yet to wake up to the fact that he isn't writing grown-up books. It's a sense, as I said. And perhaps it is unfair to Mr. Franzen.
Why do I keep posting these? For one thing, I like The Corrections. Liked, not loved. I agree with this reviewer that it is highly overrated--Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters deals with essentially similar subject matter in a much more profound way. (Aside: the other day at one blog or another, I read something that indicated that the amount of discussion of fecal matter in Family Matters rivalled that of any book published later than M. de Sade. I would beg to differ--one need only enter Franzen's world of excess.)
For another thing, I do intend, eventually to read Freedom. Each review potentially pushes that date into the future, but I don't mind; I'm not certain that it is really worth my time--but I do like Franzen's writing. There is a sense, I have about Mr. Franzen, a sense similar to that I experience after enjoying a Quentin Tarantino film: just as I'm waiting for the film that Quentin makes for adults, so I am waiting for the book that Mr. Franzen writes for adults. The difference is that Quentin is cool regardless, and if he never makes a movie for grown-ups, he's still a lot of fun. Mr. Franzen has yet to wake up to the fact that he isn't writing grown-up books. It's a sense, as I said. And perhaps it is unfair to Mr. Franzen.
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