Freedom

After taking an extended hiatus from reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen to finish the Harry Potter series before the movie, I finally finished Franzen's latest novel early this week. I have to say that I loved The Corrections and the way that Franzen created a set of completely unlikable characters, with an ending that showed the tenderness that these seemingly cold-hearted, issue ridden people were capable of. Freedom creates the same kind of pity for characters who embody all that we are afraid of.

Freedom focuses on characters when they are at low points, professionally and relationally. This is true for each character except Patty. Patty's story spans a much longer period of her life than the rest of the characters, but her life over that long span, seems very empty and pitiful. Each of the characters embodies what I strongly fear, and what I believe much of my generation to fear: not really doing anything of importance with our lives. Patty and Walter both have ambition and potential but when they end up living deep in gentrification, their lives become mundane and inconsequential. This is one of my biggest fears, I'll admit that. And I believe that much of my generation feels the same way. We grew up in the "I believe I can fly" era, where we were taught the gospel of unlimited potential. While this may have opened up doors for a lot of people, it made more children, including me, prone to dissatisfaction. Franzen nailed this one on the head in the stories of each character.

The different parts of the book touch on different point in each characters' lives, and the different points tiptoe around the successful times. We don't hear from Patty when she is happy being a mom and a neighbor, we don't hear from Walter when he is first working for the conservancy, we don't hear from Richard when he is in his successful new band. Through this, Franzen shows a way of life that is ordinary and that anyone can identify with. We can all identify with dissatisfaction, stagnation, and failure, but not everyone can identify with a fulfilling, successful career, or loving family.

This is a short entry, mostly because I really just want to get it out there to prove that I haven't been living in a cultural wasteland, but also because I read Freedom over a long-ish period of time and I can't remember a lot of the themes that I wanted to touch upon. Anyway, I'll probably write a Harry Potter post (about the movie) after I see it for the third time (but the second didn't really count because I fell asleep during a lot of it). Currently, I'm reading A Visit From the Goon Squad, and I'm enjoying it so far.