Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

“The news about Walter Berglund wasn’t picked up locally – he and Patty had moved away to Washington two years earlier and meant nothing to St. Paul now-but the urban gentry of Ramsey Hill were not so loyal to their city as not to read the New York Times. According to a long and very unflattering story in the Times, Walter had made quite a mess of his professional life out there in the nation’s capital. His old neighbors had some difficulty reconciling the quotes about him in the Times (“arrogant,” “high-handed,” “ethically compromised”) with the generous, smiling, red-faced 3M employee they remembered pedaling his commuter bicycle up Summit Avenue in February snow; it seemed strange that Walter, who was greener than Greenpeace and whose own roots were rural, should be in trouble now for conniving with the coal industry and mistreating country people. Then again, there had always been something not quite right about the Berglunds.”    ~from Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

I read The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen about 2 years ago, prompted by a resounding endorsement from my good friend and frequent book lender, Daniel Krolik. About ten pages in I realized I was in for something special and it quickly became one of my favourite recent reads. I mention this because when I miraculously found Freedom on top of the return bin at the library I was so thrilled to take it home and dive into it, but observing its girth I thought, “oh no, he’s just trying to do something as epic as The Corrections”. I was almost convinced it would be impossible for his follow-up novel to live up to my lofty expectations. Then I read it.

In brief, this 600 page beast is the story of the Berglunds – a family comprised of parents Patty and Walter, and children Jessica and Joey.  Of course, as with all dense, satisfying works of fiction it isn’t “just” about a family, but rather about the pain and joy of being human.

Franzen is a master storyteller. His characters are so clearly drawn, defined in such glaring detail that you feel as though you know them. At various junctures in the book I would pause to consider what was so special about the writing, what was making me dream about these characters long after I’d stop reading, and I realized it’s his bravery. I feel like Franzen, possibly more than any other author I’ve ever read, seeks to make you witness to the ugly truth that is inside us all. The bits and pieces we would never share with the world. Our guts.  The proof is in the way you equally loathe and cheer on each of his characters at various points along the journey.  Just when you’ve come to identify with someone, to see yourself in their shoes, they turn around say the most hurtful, horrible thing to someone they love, but it stinks of the truth.

Franzen writes what crawls around in the dark corners of people’s minds. The secrets we’re ashamed of, the desperate self-pity, the nasty judging, but also the vulnerability, the warmth, the desire to love and be loved. And while doing all that he also uses his characters to constantly spark political and philosophical debates. He manages to wrestle with everything from global warming, to downloading music, to adultery, to the war in Iraq and 9/11…you name a hot button topic and it’s in there somewhere. And yet what you leave the novel with is not these intellectual ideas, although they’re there in spades, but the immensely flawed and wonder-inducing struggle that is the human condition.

If you read one book this year it should be this book.

Next up: another miraculous “best bet” library find – The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Also on the radar are my next two book club picks: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, and (my pick) Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden.

Happy reading,

Amber