All right, where are the people who wanted to discuss this book? Byron? Kit-Cat? Get out here! Byron and Ariadne almost discussed it already in the book personals thread. And I know other lithers have read it, so let's get started.
This book was all the talk when it was published, as far as I remember. I can't quite recall whether there was much dissent in critical ranks, but I remember lots of praise for it, so perhaps it'll be worth discussing in those terms. Why was it so popular?
Beats the fuck out of me.
Although, having said that, I really enjoyed it. It was great soapy fun. But let's be honest, soap is all it is. I wanted to know what happened in the end, and I was busy hating Caroline and criticizing the attitudes of Enid and Alfred, but all in good fun. I wouldn't say that many of the insights into, say, the modern American family were anything out of the ordinary.
The characters, while not perhaps being obvious stereotypes, often perform steretypical actions and often present stereotypical attitudes. And maybe that's part of the problem. The characters aren't stock stereotypes used as counters in an analysis of issues. The book is not a parable; the characters are individuals and when they act without sufficient motivation it jars. I think Franzen is sometimes caught between telling a story and making a point, and a writer of a higher order wouldn't have left these seams showing.
Their motivations are often unbelievable, due to the writing being fairly loose, taking lots of time on some things and then leaping into a new plot point without building sufficient motivation for doing so.
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
!
I didn't believe Chip's collapse (or whatever it was). In fact I didn't believe much about Chip - for my money he was definitely the weakest character. Denise however was more interesting. Gary and Caroline were very entertaining. You could get angry at her treatment of Gary while wondering if it was just his paranoia. The parents were okay, Enid better than Alfred, but I thought most of the implied commentary on American society and the institue of the family was fairly obvious. And the ending was a bit ... I don't know. It's no crime to have a happy ending, and a sad ending wouldn't necessarily have been more believable, but it did seem a little too neat. Too smug maybe.
As I said, I enjoyed it, it's a fun read, but I can't see how it generated such fuss amongst readers. It ain't all that.
Other reactions? Love/hate/lukewarm? |
