Thoughts?
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You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
Thoughts?
shit hack derivative same
>>8261363
derivative of who specifically?
I thought it was very funny and of its time...200? I can't remember when.
Much better than either Freedom or Purity , imo.
>>8261365
Memes meming memes about memes you never read.
>>8261371
I enjoyed Freedom more and haven't yet read Purity yet. And yeah, I agree about it being "of its time." Both Freedom and The Corrections have that strong feeling.
>>8261369
umm how?
>>8261360
A complete disgrace. Franzen is a fucking hack and should be convicted for using The Recognitions as an inspiration.
If anything, Franzen is derivative of, (BTW, all fiction is derivative, the idea of a canon, is that of a continuum, with works in conversation with each other) mid -century guys like John Updike, Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. But midwestern and WASPy.
>>8261386
Read his godawful "Mr. Difficult" essay and shut the fuck up.
>>8261360
bretty good
can't fault the writing. it gets slow sometimes, but you always get what he's going for. some scenes hit more close to home than anything i've encountered in media
>the way chip feels when he tries to kick his presents up the stairs
>the flashback to the kid stranded at the dinner table picking boogers off the bottom of the table
Best review out there:
http://exiledonline.com/jonathan-franzen-will-rim-bobos-for-book-of-the-month-fame/
purity is my favorite of his novels. strong motion second. Corrections is excellent too, and more interesting and idiosyncratic than Freedom, to my mind. i had a lot of thoughts while reading it. I do think it's very prescient, and I really relate to a lot of Franzen's ideas and his general relationship with the postmodern condition and such. His memoirs and his books of collected essays are highly recommended
>>8261513
that sites hate for DFW and Franzen is hilarious
>>8261605
Franzen deserves all of it. DFW only deserves about half.
>>8261621
Franzen is probably the most talented and perceptive mainstream author of the last twenty five years. the hate for him on 4chan is totally unwarranted.
>>8261639
>Franzen is probably the most talented and perceptive mainstream author of the last twenty five years.
If that's true then that's just because of the cataclysm in literature, and we're all fucked.
>>8261485
>all the sexual innuendos when the whore daughter fucks the boss, her boss, her boss's wife, and implicitly wants to fuck their children.
What a ride.
>>8261639
Being a "talented" and "perceptive" mainstream author means about as much as being smeared with slightly less shit then everyone else on the dung heap. And that's only if you're willing to give him credit for being that, which I'm not.
>>8261360
Idiotic book for idiotic American housewives.
>>8261639
You're right of course, but you have to realize the pseuds of 4chan don't want to read somebody who reminds them of their dad. They want wacky pothead hi-jinks, big scary doorstoppers they can bravely read at Starbucks, Eastern Europeans whose names they practice pronouncing, and an academic superhero who dispenses Oprah-esque platitudes wrapped in a veneer of jaded self-consciousness. Mature topics like commentary on middle class milieu, satires of domestic melodrama, and digging into the psychological and moral complexity of marriage are frankly too advanced for this board.
>>8262708
This.
Franzen is good. Is he GOAT or God-tier? No. But he's talented. And he's well worth reading. He writes family dramas. Zeitgeist stuff. He represents our time better than 99% of other authors out there. Plus, he's "literary" and popular, which means (for you, as an aspiring author), he's probably worth reading. He's competition, and formidable competition at that. Learn from him.
>>8262708
Weapons grade retardation.
Bringing up Oprah especially in the context of a post defending Franzen shows just how clueless you are.
>>8262708
>pothead hi-jinks, big scary doorstoppers
is franzen really better than these authors
>>8261360
Boring. The greatest sin a novel can commit.
>>8261360
It was enjoyable to read.
>>8262708
I could care less about middle class plebs.
>>8261360
No better than alright, had it moments.
>>8261513
There he is! The small angry Jew who yelled at the trumpet player in New York City! I found him!
>>8261360
book of the century so far
