Finished very early on the morning of Su 3/5/17
I bought this hardcover book at the main branch on Su 11/9/03, but never read it. This was my first time through it, and I loved every one of the nearly six hundred pages!
The story is set at the end of the 20th century and the title of the book refers to this change. The 'correction' will be slow, subtle, and not readily apparent; not, 'night and day'- almost imperceptible, but most definitely a difference will be felt.
The story of The Lamberts-
Enid- the bossy mother that nitpicks, cajoles, and nags the rest of the family. Her one big hope is to unite the family at Christmas; a kind of final reunion.
Alfred- retired from the railroads where he was a mid to upper level executive. He's full of Republican values and represents 'The Old Way'. He's suffering from Parkinson's disease and dementia.
Gary- the oldest son who is employed as a fairly successful investment manager. He's not so lucky in his marriage. His wife has two of his three boys against him. She's almost 'gaslighting' him. She's got him convinced (halfway) that he's suffering from clinical depression. However, he does have a problem with alcohol. His wife WILL NOT go to Gary's parents home in St. Jude for Christmas. She has a point. Enid is a constant nag and never lets up for a minute.
Chip- the middle child. He's about to be a tenured professor at a small private college, but blows it when his sexual affair with a student is disclosed. Chip is a Marxist and the girlfriend is more of a 'Kardashian Republican'. She sees nothing wrong with being rich and can't accept Chip's view of Class Warfare- Rich against the Poor. She sees herself as just one more hustling 'small business owner'. Chip is trying to write a novel, but now makes his money fact checking and rewriting for a small newspaper. His mother, Enid, thinks that he works at the Wall Street Journal.
Denise- the baby of the family. She is a successful chef at a well known restaurant. The owner is very rich and wants her to establish a new restaurant in Philadelphia. It will be located in an refurbished power plant. Denise has an affair with him, and later, has an affair with the man's wife. This gets her fired. Her ex-husband is brought on to manage the restaurant that she developed. Denise is always cooking throughout the novel. Although deeply flawed, I felt she was the most reasonable of all the characters.
Although it was 568 pages, I didn't want it to end.
The book was selected to be part of Oprah's Book Club, but Franzen declined saying that his novel was better than that. He felt her selections were too 'lightweight'.
the author's page at wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Franzen
the novel's page at wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corrections
the book at amazon-
https://www.amazon.com/Corrections-Novel-Jonathan-Franzen/dp/0312421273
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