Crossroads

A Novel

"Narrator David Pittu superbly transports the listener into the lives of the Hildebrandts, a family with many secrets." - AudioFile Magazine

This program includes a bonus conversation between the author, Jonathan Franzen, and the narrator, David Pittu.

Jonathan Franzen’s gift for wedding depth and vividness of character with breadth of social vision has never been more dazzlingly evident than in Crossroads.

It’s December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless—unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem’s sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who’s been selling drugs to seventh graders, has resolved to be a better person. Each of the Hildebrandts seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate.

Jonathan Franzen’s novels are celebrated for their unforgettably vivid characters and for their keen-eyed take on contemporary America. Now, in Crossroads, Franzen ventures back into the past and explores the history of two generations. With characteristic humor and complexity, and with even greater warmth, he conjures a world that resonates powerfully with our own.

A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, its action largely unfolding on a single winter day, Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis. Jonathan Franzen’s gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

©2021 Jonathan Franzen (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

reader from south texas

I loved this book. the characters are evoked in ways that make you ache, make you laugh, make you nod in recognition. America in the early 70s comes to life in this beautiful novel. Am very much looking forward to the sequel

Interesting characters and relationships

Jonathan Franzen does it again. Such a compelling story of family dynamics, religion, mental health, and secrets. I found myself relating to each character in different ways. Great read and I can’t wait to see where this family goes next.

Brilliant novel, gifted reader

Amazing writing, amazing narration. Franzen’s storytelling, dialogue writing, humor, and, above all, character development, were, for this listener, jaw-droppingly good. I found myself thinking over and over, “How is he doing this?“. Equally wondrous is the narration. As this novel has been advertised as the first in a trilogy, please, PLEASE bring Pittu back to narrate the 2nd and 3rd books. My sincere thanks to Franzen and Pittu for an incredible listening experience.

A Challenge for the Resolute

This book has received critical acclaim and I’m trying so hard to understand why. Granted, the themes are compelling and the writing is excellent. But I couldn’t find a character that I liked or really believed. A good deal of editing would have helped the long, long self-absorbed inner narratives/diatribes of the characters. And, yes, there is so much more drama, inner uncertainty and moral conflict in others than we can ever know. But when reading over 600 pages of this droning self focus, one can skip and scan. But listening to every single word just wore me out. I plugged along all the way to the end, however. I did appreciate Franzen’s more nuanced treatment of women, but he still erred on the side of making them the unrealistic reflections of male fantasy. He redeemed himself in the character of Marion but for goodness sake - did he really have to go to such unsavory depths to humanize her search for an authentic self, and then find her resolution in a decision to return to a life of willing sacrifice and self immolation for a life with her husband? I agree with others the the narrator was less than optimal, although I sympathized with the formidable task he undertook with this book.

What drives us?

Why do we do the things we do and say the things we say? God is a great excuse. Guilt plays a roll. Social expectation, biology. This novel raises all the questions I like to think about. Thanks Jonathan Franzen and thanks narrator!