The Corrections

By: Jonathan Franzen

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

After almost 50 years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease, and their children have long since flown the family nest to the catastrophes of their own lives. The oldest, Gary, a once-stable portfolio manager and family man, is trying to convince his wife and himself, despite clear signs to the contrary, that he is not clinically depressed. The middle child, Chip, has lost his seemingly secure academic job and is failing spectacularly in his new line of work. And Denise, the youngest, has escaped a disastrous marriage only to pour her youth and beauty down the drain on an affair with a married man - or so her mother fears. Desperate for some pleasure to look forward to, Enid has set her heart on an elusive goal: bringing her family together for one last Christmas at home.

Stretching from the Midwest at midcentury to the Wall Street and Eastern Europe of today, The Corrections brings an old-fashioned world of civic virtue and sexual inhibitions into violent collision with the era of home surveillance, hands-off parenting, do-it-yourself mental health care, and globalized greed. Richly realistic, darkly hilarious, deeply humane, it confirms Jonathan Frazen as one of our most brilliant interpreters of American society and the American soul.

©2001 Jonathan Franzen (P)2001 Simon & Schuster Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner, Fiction (Abridged), 2002
• Book Sense Book of the Year Award Finalist, Adult Fiction, 2002
• National Book Award Winner, Best Fiction, 2001
• An Oprah Book Club Selection

"When critics refer to 'The Great American Novel' this is it, people!" (Oprah Winfrey)
"The brightest, boldest, and most ambitious novel I've read in many years." (Pat Conroy)
"This is, simply, a masterpiece." (Amazon.com)

Franzen before Freedom

I re-"read" the Corrections as an audiobook after having just finished Freedom. As much as I loved the Corrections, I now see it as a warm up for his real masterpiece -- Freedom. It's in abridged form so it doesn't take long. It's interesting as it traces the development of his talent as a novelist.

Abridge-me-not!

I missed this book when it came out, but after listening to and being awed by Freedom, I had to go back and get this one. Every bit as incisive, true, and gut-wrenching as the newer book, but I realized halfway through that I had downloaded the abridged version by mistake.

Never again.

There is nothing to gain from gutting a masterful work of fiction for the purpose of convenience, it that's the reason why books get abridged. As I finished the book, I had a feeling like I missed something, and the experience did not ring true.

While I now have to go back and get the unabridged version to find out what I missed, I can still unequivocally give this book a 4 star rating, because the power of the writing and the insight came through loud and clear, even if incomplete.

a masterpiece

Beautifully crafted, and highly descriptive, this is a sensitive, intricate, multi-layered work of art. Depressing as heck, with believable characters and family dynamics. Totally worth slogging through the beginning. The narrator is the best I've ever heard, just brilliant, and breathes life into the characters without detracting from the book's literary value. Highly recommended.

Wish it was Unabridged

What made the experience of listening to The Corrections the most enjoyable?

Both the author and narrator do a brilliant job at bringing this family to life. It tells the story with the hilarity of hindsight.

What did you like best about this story?

The writer has a fantastic way with words, and a way of telling such an emotional journey with such humour. It was so good I really wish they had done an unabridged version as I want to hear it all, its so good.

What does Dylan Baker bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He really brings the father to life.

If you could take any character from The Corrections out to dinner, who would it be and why?

The father. I'd just make sure it was finger food.

Any additional comments?

I can definitely recommend this book.

Great book, great narrator

Very listenable narrator, and if you like this kind of book - character based dynamics - you will love this great book.

Hard to take, but worth it.

At first, you are not going to know if you can make it through this book. Then you will have an epiphany, and that epiphany is that the characters are real...not "fiction" novel real, but everyday average home, average family real. Their problems are identifiable and so close to the surface you realize that this is why it's so hard to listen to this book. The narrator does a good job at giving you the feelings you are meant to feel as well. He is not overly charismatic as what is called for in this read. This book is deeper than the story. You will definitely self-reflect.

Story of Life and Death in the Midwest!

Where does The Corrections rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of my favorites. Couldn't stop listening. The narrations was amazing and the story was very compelling.

What other book might you compare The Corrections to and why?

Freedom

Better late than never

In what is a first for me - I reached the end of this wonderful novel only to find that I had been listening to an ABRIDGED VERSION!!!! So annoying. Because, although I really enjoyed it I now feel robbed. I enjoyed it and the reading was good but I can't go back now and listen to the full 21 hours after doing the 9. I feel like I've read the Readers Digest version.
My bad. I should've read the fine print.

Not Freedom, but still worth a listen.

I enjoyed Dylan Baker's reading, especially his renderings of Enid and Al, but--although some of the themes are the same--this story didn't "capture" me the way Freedom's did. That being said, Franzen's development of Al's increasing dementia and its effects on his wife and children is both emotionally moving and thought-provoking and, once again, Franzen captures the little tortures of married life and absurdities of the parent-child bond quite keenly.

Depressing

My husband has Parkinson's Disease so I thought I might gain some insight. If not for having that in common I would have abandoned the book 1/2 way through. It was sad and depressing.