January 26, 2011
In typical Franzen fashion, the bumps and dark underside of American life are displayed starkly. I was very impressed by The Corrections so I paid full hard-cover price for Freedom. My take on it, first and foremost, was that it needed to be edited – a lot! In fact, I put the book down twice out of boredom. However, I will say that it is worth the read because, as few books do, it ended elegantly and completely. While I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters, I was interested enough in them to stay on board for the full book and I’m glad I did. But, if ever there was a book that could use some condensation, this would be one.
