#17 The Corrections by Jonathon Franzen
Whoa! Did this book take a long time or what! I saw Jonathon Franzen read from The Corrections at the Hungry Mind (or was it the Ruminator at that point) in Saint Paul, MN back in the good old days before they went out of business. His reading did not move me to purchase a copy of the book. And it was only when I found out he was going to be one of the guest teachers next year at Madison that I decided to pick it up, but perhaps a contributing factor to my dispassion for The Corrections was that I am no longer going to Madison as previously disclosed, but rather USC, more on that some other time.
The Corrections
by Jonathon Franzen
Fiction
Published: 2001
Finished: 4/26/06
The Corrections is the story of a dysfunctional white American family from the midwest. The dad, Alfred, is digressing into dementia and experiences extended hallucinations involving anthropomorphic fecal matter. Mom, Enid, is obsessed with bringing everyone home for Christmas and at one point she becomes nearly addicted to a drug called Aslan. Gary, the oldest son has three kids (one of whom is good) and a petty, manipulative but beautiful wife. Chip, the middle child is an immature ex-intellectual who is no longer a professor after having sex with a student. Denise is the bisexual successful chef who seems to have the most healthy perspective. There is some business about marketing capitalism in Lithuania, a patent being bought by a biotechnology company who want to cure alzheimer's and the like, and well, a whole lot of dishonesty, dysfunction and all around modern American values.
I think I really enjoyed this book, despite my efforts to the contrary. It's quite sprawling and Franzen is a really outstanding writer, but if this book is his crowning achievement, then he has sold himself short. My first issue was that dysfunction is so 1995, and the dysfunctional white American family, especially with a mom like Enid who just wants everyone to be home for Christmas, is so beaten to death at this point in film, television and literature that the book can't help but feel dated. Factors contributing to that include the several pages of email exchanged between Denise and Chip, which might have seemed modern and hip ten years ago (seriously, I wrote a short story in email format in 1998 and at that point I knew it was gimmicky), but in this case merely revealed a style of banter between siblings that was so eloquent on both ends that it exposed the characters' lack of unique voices. There was a sort of extended Narnia metaphor happening for a while, but at some point I lost touch with it, which was disappointing. Then there were one or two things that made me question the level of research done beforehand. The sister seemed to magically become this brilliant chef, and yet there was so little written about her relationship to her profession, and the very terse passages which did address her cooking were so vague, that anyone who has seen Iron Chef on multiple occasions could probably have spoken about cooking in more passionate detail.
Ultimately, my favorite section of the book was the one about the older son Gary trying to convince his excessively immature and petty wife to come home with him for Christmas. I felt that more so than any of the other sections of the book, that section had a really great character arch, even though ultimately I hated the character of Gary who was also immature and stubborn.
I don't know. I did enjoy reading the book, it was so well written, even though there were some pages that quite simply had too many words on them. Still, it seems to me Douglas Coupland has been writing the quirky family genre for years with greater success (not measured in sales), and even though this sounds prudish, without lots of sex and drugs and talking feces. Although All Families are Psychotic also came out in 2001 and it certainly didn't win any National Book Award... hmmm, I must just be partial to Coupland because he's Canadian.
The moral of the story is: White Families = Crazy Dysfunctional. Got it. It's too late to recommend this book to anyone. It's way dated.
6 Comments:
Dear Gabe,
I think you missed the point of the book. If you were looking for the Iron Chef, recipes and cooking, you should've turned your TV to the Cooking Network.
This book was not about the overly exposed dysfunctional American family, despite the obvious, was not about cooking or Lithuanian & Narnian accommodations, but about Corrections. Of how things are left to deteriorate, but then in the end how they get corrected.
But really, did you miss the idea that what you consider outdated in movies, TV shows or print may actually involve more than simple viewing entertainment…may demand analysis? An ACTUAL THINKING? (Oh, anathema!)
You complain there were too many words in the book? Perhaps you are of the opinion that picking up a paperback from the romance or mystery section of your local Barnes and Noble qualifies as good reading material? If so, then I advise you to abstain from reading all together and simply keep on watching TV or going to the movies. Merge into the vast network of brain-dead Americans who’d rather marinate without thinking, that think without watching.
Thanks Gabe. I had the feeling this book, despite all the praise and adulation, was probably not worth my time. With your valued opinion in minnd I will no longer feel guilty about missing some great literary achievement.
And Simon- dude, who writes a book that's actaully about the title?
This is the same kind of reaction my film analyses illicit from my aunt or my dad's wife or my ex-girlfriend. When I realize I'm not enjoying a book or a movie, I begin to ask myself what about it is disengaging. For The Corrections I found the dialogue was lacking realism and often, though not always, rhythm as well. I also felt the characters were not complete. My criticisms of the book don't have anything to do with themes because frankly I never became invested enough to ruminate on a theme as transparent as corrections in a book called The Corrections in which a major plot point is the father's dementia which almost could have been cured by a biotechnical advancement which one of his own decade's old patents contributed to developing. Alanis Morissete (may god bless her) would misidentify that coincidence as irony.
One comment which I think all writers should take issue with is that the book isn't about cooking, when one of the characters is a chef, or it isn't about Lithuania when an entire section of the book takes place there, or that it isn't about Narnia when the mom becomes addicted to a drug called Aslan. A book is about every single thing that is written in it. Every image and line and character contributes to what the book is about. This is why writers can never answer the question: "what is your book about?" It's about ten thousand different things.
And just to tie this back into my comment about there being too many words. It was supposed to be an offhand reference to Amadeus when the Emporer critiques Mozart for using too many notes, but perhaps it's a more serious criticism that this book was about too many things. I don't know exactly what I meant, I only know that in the notebook where I scribble passages and notes while reading I wrote: "too many words." And it seemed like a fitting observation.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts, Simon, and what the heck does "anathema" mean?
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Gabe,
What is anathema?
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From dictionary.com:
a•nath•e•ma ( P ) A formal ecclesiastical ban, curse, or excommunication.
A vehement denunciation; a curse: “the sound of a witch's anathemas in some unknown tongue” (Nathaniel Hawthorne).
One that is cursed or damned.
One that is greatly reviled, loathed, or shunned: “Essentialisma belief in natural, immutable sex differencesis anathema to postmodernists, for whom sexuality itself, along with gender, is a ‘social construct’”.
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On the contrary, I find Franzen's novel to flow perfectly both in the dialogs and in general narrative. Of course it matters how/when/where you read it. For example, right now I am reading 'Underworld' by Don DeLillo and I find it to resemble an absolute cacophony of references, dialogs, time jumping and I ask myself 'Why would anyone find this book interesting?'
My recommendation for you and 'The Corrections' is to go to your local library and to get the unabridged audio version of the book narrated by George Guidal. Believe me it's worth listening to his performance of Alfred, or of Chip or even of Enid. Perhaps this way the book would truly become alive and make sense to you.
It's not a bad thought. I'll certainly consider tackling the book again, though it might have to wait for a bit, probably not as long as Stones of Summer which I'm not allowed to read again until 2028. It's nice to hear someone else who appreciates literature recommending an audio book (Bill, I know you love audio books too), some people give me such derisive looks when I tell them I'm listening to Robinson Crusoe or the new John Adams Biography, sheesh, there's so many books in the world that you've got to make some time for them while driving or cooking or you know, whatevering. And they're especially nice for a re-read (thank you Jim Dale).
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