Review: FREEDOM, Jonathan Franzen

FREEDOM. By Jonathan Franzen. I acquired my copy of FREEDOM about the same time I did the GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. I really wanted to like the latter, the backstory is so compelling, guy labors in obscurity, dies, goes viral, that sort of thing grabs the imagination, then there is the film version. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to go on a 562-page trip with Mr. Franzen, however, the so-called diffident one (remember the Oprah fiasco? Turns out he’s not diffident, btw).

As things happen, I bonked on Lisbeth Salander et al after about 50 pages. The character(s) just didn’t grab me, at least not during my intial foray. Franzen’s tome I couldn’t put down. The characters, too compelling. The slow train wreck of their lives, in process, I couldn’t turn avert my eyes. The intercut narratives of the different generations – the modern cliffhanger – it surely did its job, and kept you onboard for the whole trip. And the inherent bedeviling Paradoxical nature of the event (yes, capital P Paradox, industrial strength paradox going on here) – it was all just too compelling. I was sorry to reach page 562. What better compliment to an author than that?

Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose. Frrrreeeeeedddddddddom! – Wm Wallace, Braveheart. Land of the free. And now FREEDOM, by J. Franzen. What do we mean by Paradox? We were surrounded by paradox at every page, or so it seemed:

• Just the length of it is a paradox today: a 562-page novel telling the story of three (and one-half?) generations in the age of the 140-character Twitter.
• A harrowing look at relationships, marriage, family – that reaffirms the merits of each, come what may.
• Franzen, interestingly however, himself is divorced, no children.
• A storyline that is consistently anti-religion, even anti-spirituality – yet ends in a faith-affirming modus operandi.
• A book whose main character realizes that “nothing matters,” – then proves that ‘everything matters.’

And the greatest paradox of all, the much vaunted ‘freedom’ that is so sought after ---- is unbearable.

August 12 2010 TIME put J. Franzen on its cover, an honor accorded to very, very few writers over the years. Then they dubbed it No. 1 in fiction, year end. This book is that significant, imo. I really doubt that texting, Twitter, Facebook, or youtube rainbows have the power to move you, to explain yourself to you, and dare I say it, explain something of this thing, life. In a way that sticks. That, dear reader, remains in the realm of art, and that is what Franzen can do and, in fact, does. In so doing, he proves that the novel, that literature, is not only not dead, but more vibrant an experience than ever, juxtaposed against the 24/7 onslaught of noncommunication communication we must all endure now, that is, for those still relatively few who seek it out.