I'm halfway through Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, and I have to say that I am enjoying it much more than I thought I would. It's a truthful tale of middle America; the characters, I find very believable, even if they are not all likable. I suspect that many of us know people like the Berglunds... I may change my mind by the time I'm finished with the book, but so far, it appears that Franzen has hit on the state of the American family, and by the looks of the voluminous criticism the book has received, both good and bad, it appears he has hit a nerve as well.
***
Phase II. December 12.
Ugh... finally finished. In the end, I give it a 3 because I enjoyed it and am glad that I read it but was slightly disappointed in that it didn't quite measure up to all the hullabaloo and hype and therefore my expectations. For me, a great book is one that I just can't put down, can't stop thinking about, and really, really don't want to end--so much that I end up dragging out the last chapters so that I can linger. This book dragged for me alright: I read it; I finished it; in parts it even really caught me up in its spell; but overall, I had to kind of discipline myself to just get the darned thing finished so that I could get on with it--those last 100 pages or so really dragged.
I liked the story, I appreciate the pathos of Patty and Walter and the rest. I appreciated the messages I got out of it: the elusive and ambivalent surety of "freedom" --and even the meaning of it-- and the whole Big Question about life and why we're here and what, in this contemporary, modern world we have created, we're supposed to do with it
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