The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
I want to give it a 3 star, but I can’t because it is much better than that, and the book knows it. But I can’t give it 5, either, because it annoyed me so much the whole time I read it. Sort of like when I nearly failed my driver’s test at age 16 and my instructor said, “I don’t want to pass you, but I will.” You have to admit the book is clever, well written, and extremely self-possessing (if you like that in a book), but there were a number of times I wanted to hit myself over the head with it from sheer exhaustion. In one book, every intellectual anecdote, clever turn of a phrase, and insightful analysis of nearly everything one might encounter in 21st century Western society was held together with impressible force. It is good. Really good. But I didn’t like it. I laughed, but didn’t think it was funny. As one other reviewer commented, You must read it. You’ll just be irritated with it the entire time.