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BOOKS I can read, you know. Thursday, July 29, 2004 :::
Why I read it: Because I absolutely loved The Corrections What I think about it: Jonathan Franzen is a very clever and erudite writer. Just reading one of his novels or essays will increase your IQ by at least a fraction, if only by association. And usually, he accomplishes this amazing feat while being entertaining at the same time. Sadly, this collection of essays doesn't really represent his best work as a whole. Certain essays are brilliant and emotionally heartbreaking, like when he expounds on his father's Alzheimers disease or his highly publicized conflict with the Oprah Book of the Month Club. Others are downright boring, like his musings on the Chicago postal system or his tour of state of the art detention centers. Worse, some essays smack of self-importance and unabashed arrogance, and far too many of them focus on blaming the American public for either not reading enough or for reading the wrong books. He often comes off as a typical old curmudgeon, shunning popular technology, popular books, popular society, popular everything. And he even goes as far as to utter my least favorite and most snobberish of declarations: he doesn't even own a TV. Obnoxious people like to make that statement as if it somehow elevates them to a higher plain of human development. TV is like anything else, including Jonathan's essays: some of it's good, worthwhile, and substantial. Some of it's not. To discount all of it altogether would be foolish. But even at his most put-offish, he still writes with fascinating style and wit. But he's at his best when he acts human, and sometimes it's hard not to identify with his disillusionment or his occasionally feeling like a total phony. I guess my final recommendation would be to read his novels instead. Even though half of this book is amazing, the other half will leave a bad taste in your mouth, which may end up sullying your opinions of his superlative fiction. Learn more about it. ::: posted by dan at 1:04 PM :: # |
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reviews music movies books sections planetdan home planetdan blog dan's pics fun junk recent reviews The Road by Cormac McCarthy No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Sa... Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryso... Sickened by Julie Gregory My Friend Leonard by James Frey Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides others pimpsmax sista c b stacy b dan@planetdan.net archive 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007
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