Review of Recent Literature

I am finally done with the book. My earlier personal sentiments toward the characters aside, I like the book. It’s well-written (a tiresome phrase but the most succinct way I could put it) and, because of its timeliness with current events - 9-11, the Internet generation, and the economic recession - it’s not difficult to see why Time named this 2010’s Book of the Year.

Right now, savoring the experience that comes every time one turns the last pages of the book, I could only wish that I’d saved the points I previously published for this review. After going on and on about how well Franzen writes, and how the characters were immensely frustrating - but also admirable and, as in every book, heroic in their own right - I don’t have much to say apart from words of adoration. Of how the author pieced together current events and superimposed the lives of his characters upon them, how the author wove in and out of these events and, in doing so, explained their dynamics in such a way that could only further engage his reader into the story, but more importantly, get them to understand the workings of these systems.

Franzen delves into environmental issues in this book (one of the main characters, Walter Berglund, is (safe to say) an extreme environmental activist in radical pursuit of preserving the remaining natural habitat of a handful of bird species, which, it is pointed out, is in severe decline). Franzen also sheds light on population issues (however, Walter’s main cause, one entrenched in his being, is curbing population growth. It is also pointed out in the book how, at the birth rate we are going with, humankind is pretty much on the verge of destroying the planet and, ultimately, itself), political issues (there are so many things about right- and left-wing politics, much of which I regret to say I found difficulty understanding and catching up with, but which were illuminating all the same. It must be said that Walter, whose son Joey is on Walter’s opposite political end, is a Conservative, and that this served the role of one of the many obstacles in their relationship. There is also a lot about former US President George W. Bush, and a little, later toward the end, about President Obama), the Internet and its role in the 21st century - and ultimately, in our generation’s lives (interesting I found the scene between Lalitha, Walter’s 27-year-old assistant, and Jessica, Walter’s 21-year-old daughter, where Jessica insists that young as Lalitha may be, there are things she doesn’t understand about “the youth’s relationship to music today,” and that “sending a text message is different from sending an e-mail” - something along those lines, if I’m mistaken in verbatim), and also indie vs mainstream music, which I found immensely even more interesting (Richard Katz, Walter’s best friend since college and who, unfortunately, played a severing role in the story - at least in Walter and Patty’s marriage - is the book’s archetype of the rock star; the Man Who’s Far More Intelligent and Intellectual Than You Might Have Expected; an indisputably talented musician; and yet also quite an asshole. Whom at the end of the day, you could only understand, if not love; for whom you could feel emphatic, if not pitiful) especially when discussed next to consumerism (there is talk on Apple products in the book, too).

But what I like most about the book, and which perhaps is a prompt to read more of similar books this year, is its…familial nature. Please don’t get the wrong idea though, and hear me out on this: it is in no way a sentimental, touchy book. It doesn’t tug at your heartstrings, or anything cheesy like that. It is far from it, and far enough to drive me up the wall in some parts (just because I am unfortunately a sentimental person myself, and I could mistake the fictional charactes for real people and be truly angry at them sometimes; helplessly affected by their own sentiments toward each other). All I mean to say is that I like the parts in it about the Berglund family members’ relationship to and with each other; the family-related aspects of the book. Franzen cuts open the wounds that scar every middle-class family, and describes them with a mix of sentimental regret and also objective detachment. This does two things in my opinion: get readers to accept these imperfect family realities as fact, and to accept such imperfection to better appreciate family - what it is as a concept or a real, tangible thing - for what it is.

And the character around which this aspect of the book revolved is Patty Berglund, and not because she keeps the family together. She is the biggest irony in this book in that she is the very character that tore her family apart. But family is her life, and if the book touched themes on alienation, competition, independence, honesty (or dishonesty), repentance, and acceptance, it is primarily through Patty’s story. Which, as she describes so herself, consists mostly of mistakes.

I’m glad to say the book closes nicely. It certainly took a lot of effort and energy to read, but nothing that wasn’t gratifying, to both a mental and emotional extent. Why it is revered also has to do, I think, with the accurate picture it paints of the times. Say, ten years from now, if people wanted to know what it was like to live in 2010 in America, in the times leading to and a little after the recession, Freedom may very well be the book to read.

And so, how the book came to be titled Freedom is echoed over and over throughout the book: in the characters’ desperation for freedom - from family, from the system, from themselves - and, interestingly, in their frustration with its elusiveness, until, ultimately, they find it in what they have been running from all along.

The book I am currently reading is Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. I have the paperback copy, which I assume is lighter than the hard cover one, though it’s still quite enormous in size. Jabin, my favorite boyfriend and the most wonderful book supplier of all, got it for me two months ago as a token of apology - I’ve since told him that, while I enjoy receiving books for a variety of purposes, I mustn’t get used to him giving me gifts after a fight, lest I begin to expect some form of consistency , or start to pick a fight more often. In any case, I had been reading The Corrections - also by Franzen - when he gave me the book, which I followed with Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love and Man In The Room, so it is only recently that I finally got to pick up last year’s Time Book Of The Year. I began reading this in the second last week of January, if I recall correctly, and have been taking far longer with it than I did with The Corrections. For a couple of reasons.

Like The Corrections, and as some of you might already know, Freedom is about a modern-day American family, whose members are…quite stuck in misery. That would be an unjust and unfairly inaccurate summary of what the book is about, but for the purposes of this post, that’s all I’ll say for now (besides, I am not done with the book yet). I thoroughly enjoyed The Corrections, partly because it’s the first of its kind that I’ve come across (plot- and setting-wise), and also partly because Franzen just writes really well. It was a difficult book to read, in that the characters go through some excruciatingly painful experiences - excruciating both to witness simply and to live vicariously - but the characters’, say, endearing qualities, were enough to keep you engaged, to keep you reading. The book evoked a kind of sympathy from you as a reader, which encouraged you to read through to the end. These are some reasons I liked The Corrections, and what led me to think Freedom would be just as enjoyable a read.

I am currently at 305 of 576 pages of Freedom. I don’t know if it’s right to begin reviewing a book without finishing it yet (is it?), but because I’ve been lagging in my reading progress, I figured I could at least jot down some comments here. (It is my reading journal, after all). I also feel like I’ve been dragging myself to read, with this book. Dragging because, apart from being so big in size that it’s a little heavier and slightly more difficult to carry around, Freedom is also more difficult to read than The Corrections.

Style-wise, you certainly read Franzen in Freedom. However - calling to mind a literature elective professor who pointed out a particular, overlookable yet clear flaw in J.K. Rowling’s writing, and assuming the existing, however minuscule, value of this point I want to mention - his prose is not as polished as in The Corrections. I must admit to noticing this thanks to a review that already pointed it out - the reviewer said something along the lines of Franzen sounding no more than his usual self.

And true enough: there is a part in which he writes in first person, through one of the characters’ perspectives, and then subtly - though you’d notice, if you had been watching out - switch to his own voice again. It’s an overlookable flaw; it doesn’t disturb the quality of the entire book. But by comparing it to one of his previous works, which I assume you’d be wont to do with a Book Of The Year and its predecessor, a National Book Awardee, it’s not as excellently written.

But, that is not why Freedom is a bit more difficult to read.

So far, my reason in finding Freedom a difficult read is that its characters are rather unbearable. The Corrections’ characters are difficult; Freedom’s are unbearable. Patty Berglund succumbing, slowly but surely, to her inner demons is unbearable. Richard Katz wasting away behind a shell is unbearable. Walter, who seems the least to blame in this book, has become unbearable too, particularly with Lalitha in the picture. Joey, such a stupid youngster for someone so smart, is unbearable. I’ve yet to read anything about Jessica, Patty and Walter’s daughter - I hope she illuminates some saving grace.

Unbearable characters have their redemptors in events or in other characters, but getting there has become an excruciating experience. I’m not saying I dislike the book - minor flaws aside, it is a well written book, and I myself am a fan of Franzen’s style. The book - Freedom, in itself, is just difficult.

Cracking the book open, every time I sit to read, what I find myself anticipating are pain and more disappointment (in the characters). Flipping through the pages, I cringe a lot, and sometimes I wince. I’ve yet to find out what’s keeping me reading aside from being a Franzen fan and wanting to see how things will work out, if not get better, which is pretty much the basic reason one continues to read a book anyway.

Now I’ve zeroed in on these nuances, which are merely my opinions as a reader. I am not reviewing the book in this occasion, which otherwise would require that I point out the massive range of topics Franzen manages to cover expertly: politics, music, low- to high-class living and lifestyle, pop culture, the environment. He is likewise able to zoom in and discuss with detail human emotion. These are the very things I love about the way Franzen writes, and what blows my mind about him.

But, enough fangirling. These are my all my thoughts on Freedom for now; I hope to be able to craft a shorter, more concise review in my next post on this.

I began a book blog before, called Will Write For Books, which died as soon as I published the first post. In my second attempt, I am determined to be successful.

Review of Recent Literature will be my online reading journal. Words on a range of reading-related things, from book reviews, progress reports, and commentaries on online articles, will be filed here. Expect thought bubbles, quotes, and occasionally, photographs, as I try to take this hobby (though vocation would be the more accurate way to put it, I think) to another level…

Honestly, I just want to be able to read better. I am almost completely sold on the idea that reading great stuff will make me a better writer, and because it always takes some ruminating (which takes time) to fully digest and comprehend a great piece of work, I figured writing about the it will help significantly. Not to mention, help my writing as well.

So! Stick around, and feel free to make recommendations and point out the flaws in my opinions, or my grammar (knock on wood). May this attempt be sweeter the second time around.