Franzen, if he interests you ...

[MalignD at aol.com]

I recently read Jonathan Franzen's book, The Corrections, which I found 
pretty terrific and recommend to any who might consider it.

Franzen is one of a number of writers (Foster Wallace, Richard Powers, Neal 
Stephenson) deemed Pynchon wannabes.  It doesn't seem particularly apt in 
Franzen's case.  He has an apparently formidable intellect, but it is very 
different from Pynchon's or, at least, he puts it to very different use; 
i.e., Franzen uses his erudition to support and enrich the story he's telling 
whereas I think of Pynchon using his erudition to connect the themes he 
develops to events and ideas outside his novels.  In this sense, Franzen 
reminds me more of Bellow that Pynchon.  Also, Franzen is very strong at what 
I think is Pynchon's major weakness--creating rich, three-dimensional 
characters.

There is in the Corrections a section that I took to be a brief homage to 
Pynchon, wherein a man whose worsening Parkinsonism and Alzheimers has made 
him incontinent and his fear and humiliation around this takes the form of an 
animated turd that haunts and taunts him.  It's not one of the books stronger 
sections.

But the novel is funny,  smart, very well written, worthy, I think, of its 
hype.

If you're interested ...