Freedom

A Novel

By: Jonathan Franzen

Narrated by: David LeDoux

Length: 24 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

From the National Book Award-winning author of The Corrections, a darkly comedic novel about family.

Patty and Walter Berglund were the new pioneers of old St. Paul - the gentrifiers, the hands-on parents, the avant-garde of the Whole Foods generation. Patty was the ideal sort of neighbor, who could tell you where to recycle your batteries and how to get the local cops to actually do their job. She was an enviably perfect mother and the wife of Walter's dreams. Together with Walter - environmental lawyer, commuter cyclist, total family man - she was doing her small part to build a better world. But now, in the new millennium, the Berglunds have become a mystery. Why has their teenage son moved in with the aggressively Republican family next door? Why has Walter taken a job working with Big Coal? What exactly is Richard Katz - outré rocker and Walter's college best friend and rival - still doing in the picture? Most of all, what has happened to Patty? Why has the bright star of Barrier Street become “a very different kind of neighbor,” an implacable Fury coming unhinged before the street's attentive eyes?

In his first novel since The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen has given us an epic of contemporary love and marriage. Freedom comically and tragically captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the heavy weight of empire. In charting the mistakes and joys of Freedom's intensely realized characters as they struggle to learn how to live in an ever more confusing world, Franzen has produced an indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time.

©2010 Jonathan Franzen (P)2010 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"The Great American Novel." ( Esquire)

"It’s refreshing to see a novelist who wants to engage the questions of our time in the tradition of 20th-century greats like John Steinbeck and Sinclair Lewis . . . [This] is a book you’ll still be thinking about long after you’ve finished reading it." (Patrick Condon, Associated Press)

“Writing in prose that is at once visceral and lapidary, Mr. Franzen shows us how his characters strive to navigate a world of technological gadgetry and ever-shifting mores, how they struggle to balance the equation between their expectations of life and dull reality, their political ideals and mercenary personal urges. He proves himself as adept at adolescent comedy as he is at grown-up tragedy; as skilled at holding a mirror to the world his people inhabit day by dreary day as he is at limning their messy inner lives . . . Mr. Franzen has written his most deeply felt novel yet—a novel that turns out to be both a compelling biography of a dysfunctional family and an indelible portrait of our times." (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)

UUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

I love books. I love audio books. But, sadly, I HATED this book!! I purchased it when Oprah had it as her book club selection. I was sooooo dissapointed. Don't waste your time!!! I would have given it zero stars, but the form wouldn't let me!!

Dysfunctional Family, who cares?

Any additional comments?

The book was well crafted, written by a skilled writer but the story was lacking. It is the story of a dysfunctional family, can anyone here relate? I sure have my family issues. There is infidelity, rebellious youths, broken promises, etc. However, there is no compelling reason to read (or listen to) the story. I was not enlightened, entertained, or amused. I was simply subjected to the train wreck of someone else's life. Overall, a poor use of my time.

The narrator did a fantastic job!

So disappointed

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The story just wasn't compelling. I listened for several hours but still never cared about any of the characters.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I don't know.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes, the narration was fine.

What character would you cut from Freedom?

I didn't like any of the characters.

Any additional comments?

The story started out a confusing jumble of neighbors' names and various attributes. Then it zeroed in on Patty, an unsympathetic homemaker, taking the form of her third-person autobiography. This is about as far as I got. I wanted to love this novel, I read The Corrections years ago and was deeply moved by it. Unfortunately, Franzen's follow-up falls far short.

So-So

Sociology does not make for great or even good literature -- and this is sociology by the numbers. As if written from index cards, the characters of the book are carefully constructed from minute and plentiful place-time details, that approximate authenticity, but fail to engage. What's all the fuss?

FREEDOM by Jonathan Franzen

I don't like it. Can't even finish the first segment. Not my type of book. I couldn't possibly care any less about any of the characters. But I may not be someone you should pay any attention to, when considering a purchase. I listened to a couple of the "Rabbit" books by John Updike with the same results. I don't get what the attraction is. Boring, somewhat shallow people from backgrounds I can't relate to, living their lives. BFD! Who cares?!

Just the worst!

All of the characters were terrible people and they never got any better. One star because I’m so happy that I don’t have anyone like these people in my life.

Do yourself a favor and skip this book

This novel is full of stereotypical people, boring, predictable and difficult to relate to or like.

The reader is a good match, bad.

I just didn't get it

Maybe it went over my head. The only thing that surprised me about this book was how much sex there was, since so many contemporary authors don't even bother with it. Of course, this being Franzen, the sex was not enjoyable to read, being a lot of pathetic, compulsive masturbation, men being led by their d---ks and people so caught up in their own misery and self consciousness that they can't enjoy it. This is my biggest problem with Franzen's writing -- he very much dislikes/holds at a distance/tortures his characters. So why should I care about them? However, after slogging through, albeit skimming a bit, the ending did get to me, but maybe it was due to the sheer relief that it was over.

I wanted to kill myself....

Good Lord this book was dragged out and boring as HELL. Honestly, it may as well be a left wing manifesto that is poorly written. I didn't finish the book because it was driving me crazy. I think the 2 stars Igave it is an over rate. Dont bother.

What a waste of a credit!

I purchased this book because the premise sounded interesting enough, and the reviews suggested that it might be something that I would like. However, I didn't get through the first two hours of the story. The narrator was okay, although I really hated how he read women's voices. It was the book itself that was such a disappointment. I absolutely hated the characters. This is often not a problem. I can listen/read a book with characters that I don't like, provided those characters are interesting and have something compelling about them. The characters in this story, however, were the most two dimensional creations that I've encountered in a long while. Furthermore, nothing happened. Actually, in the hour and a half that I listened, things did happen. But the things that happened seemed to drive the characters in only the most superficial ways. I mean, really, your 16 year old throw a fit and moves out of the house, and you shrug your shoulders? And while the characters had their petty, private obsessions, none of them seemed authentic within the story itself. I think that's my biggest complaint about this book: it is utterly lacking in authenticity. I won't bother with any more of this author's books. And I really wish I could get back my credit.