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)

Worse than the sum of its parts

Any additional comments?

Freedom is a rich, provocative novel, one with well-defined and realistic characters. David LeDoux's reading is more of a performance, giving each character distinct voices (a few missteps here, notably the Indian woman) and making them come alive.

And in that combination lies the problem. These characters are unlikable and sometimes downright repulsive, wholly absorbed in themselves and their sometimes-douchey first-world problems. Their rage, depression, and selfishness comes alive, and, although deeply flawed characters really are the most interesting, listening to them rant and snipe their realistic way through your morning commute is rather unpleasant.

Freedom is certainly a must-read because of its analysis of Contemporary American Problems: this is one of those novels that, a hundred years hence, literature professors will assign for its timeliness, if not for its

Struggled to finish

Decent narrator, however, the story itself left the listener with alot of unanswered questions. Perhaps the book just didn't live up to the hype.

Loved the performance, except…

For Lalitha’s voice. Very cringe.

The story is great—classic Franzen family tale. Gets Saint Paul nearly flawlessly.

An epic, yet understated, great American novel.

This is a brilliantly written novel. One of the best I’ve read, or listened to, in quite a while. The story-line itself does not give an accurate picture of what this book is all about. When looked at superficially, the main characters are stereotypes of white, liberal, middle class Americans. The subject matter of teenage rebellion, strained relationships with parents, marital estrangement and infidelity can all be considered overdone and passé, but Franzen brings a new insight to these themes and explores them with an honesty and understatedness that is completely refreshing. Freedom is an epic story depicting contemporary American life in a distinctive, intimate and unique way.

David LeDoux, the narrator, does a great job, especially considering the fact that while the author is male, the majority of this story is told from the perspective of Patty Berglund, a female. Having a male narrator does not take away from things one little bit. This is also a long book and the story takes place over many years. The narrator keeps things moving in an entertaining and understandable way.

Over-hyped and a bit monolithic

A large chunk of this novel is written as a cathartic exercise at the behest of a therapist. The rest of the book similarly reads as a study in character, giving us an in depth understanding of the characters' motivations and choices as they react to a complex and troubling world. It is all about the inner voices of the main characters. You won't find much description, setting of atmosphere, or stage direction here. In that regard Franzen reminds me of Philip Roth, as opposed to such authors as Steinbeck, Chandler, or even John Irving. Roth is a touch more eloquent, and much less verbose. Any drama must have structure to be effective, and this one suffers from an excess of repetition. This reader just wanted to yell, "enough already!" several times during the reading. It would have benefited from a severe editing. You'll recognize in the characters many of the types of people you know. From that standpoint it does capture a certain slice of contemporary, dysfunctional life in America. It reminds me a lot of reality TV, and all of the reasons I don't watch it.

Worth it

Would you listen to Freedom again? Why?

I would if I listened to audio recording more than once. However, I do not.

What did you like best about this story?

Good story and clever writing

Have you listened to any of David LeDoux’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to his other performances, but this one was great.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not particularly, it was a great book, though.

Too Much Work

This book was far too much work to get to the point. I found my mind drifting and kept having to rewind and relisten to things I missed. I personally do not recommend it unless you are a die hard fan of Franzen's work.

Great reading

What an amazing act of writing--Jonathan Franzen creates characters that you can't stop reading about, even though none of them are very likable, and all of them are very human.

Conversational Piece

"Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen is more like a conversational piece than a stand alone read. In order to fully understand what is going on, this book needs to be read in a group setting. It's too hard to get through this book without discussing with others about their opinions. After talking to my friend, and listening to her observation, I started piecing the different characters and saw how the family was starting to form as what they are now. Very much like a TV reality show, the Berglunds are a dysfunctional bunch.

Each characters have their own side project going on with no real central plot to steer the reader. It is just a whole a lot of nothing, much like real life. At the end, I started to enjoy "Freedom" because most of our lives are pretty much the same as this book. There are only a few high points in our lives and the rest is dull and routine. If it wasn't for my friend's perspective, I would probably not had liked this one, but this book was meant for a book club to decipher.

Amazing

I just can't get over what a great writer Jonathan Franzen is. Although I found my mind drifting in a few of the more 'boring' spots, overall I thought both the narration of the book and the book itself was amazing.