Kim here. As usual, this post is delayed. Not only did I not have the Corrections finished by the meeting, this month has continued to be a complete roller coaster ride. Anywho, enough about me. The Corrections was yet another completely polarizing book for us. Similarly to most of the books that we have read, either readers totally adored it or abhorred it. I myself am in the former camp, but was shocked by how staunch people were about their opinion of the book. Even the strangers who saw me reading it on the train or at a cafe, had something to say about it. What is it about this novel that is so completely polarizing?
I think that our meeting addressed the issue to an extent: not the subject matter, but the format of the novel itself is rather challenging. For those that appreciate a story line instead of a psychological makeup of characters, the Corrections lacked the usual dramatic techniques. But it didn't stop there. Even for those readers who love to delve deep into a characters psyche, there seemed to be something here that was too bleak to swallow. In my opinion (biased because I loved the book), the bleakness is born out of his refusal to give the reader a storybook ending. The reality is that these people have a lot of terrible tendencies, and living the way that they are, there isn't a great chance they are going to find the happiness they are seeking. I don't think their well-being should be the reader's concern, but rather the complexity Franzen creates. It's simultaneously entertaining, frightening, and completely true to human behavior, which is not an easy feat.
So, in response to the question of what it is about this book, I think that the polarizing effect is a symptom of the depth of the writing. I have no doubt that had Franzen written a more shallow, less true to man novel people would put it down, brush it off, and carry on their day. Instead he dives in head first, and gives us a frustrating look at the real America.
