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)

A memorable book; flawless narration

For once the publisher's summary has got it right. The broad character sketches and plot synopses that it offers are dead on, and without a doubt Jonathan Franzen has written a brilliant novel. I would also like to add, as many others have mentioned, that Dylan Baker, the narrator of this piece, is one of the best narrators I've heard so far. He truly adds a depth to these characters that is astonishing; he literally becomes each character.

The Corrections follows the lives of five family members, each with their own unique problems. All of these characters are fully developed and none are stereotypes -- each character is a decidedly different shade of gray. And despite the summary's emphasis on Enid, the wife and mother, of the novel's five characters, I would have to say that the story most belongs to Denise, the daughter, whose eyes seem to see more clearly than anyone else's here.

I cannot say when I first became hooked into this story, which is actually a collection of character vignettes that crisscross over one another before finally uniting in the last few chapters; but I know I surrendered early on. At nine hours this book is a saga that only gets more interesting the longer you read it. As some have mentioned, the characters do tend to do hateful things to each another, and one could classify this book as depressing in tone; yet somehow one doesn't feel depressed while reading it, only uplifted. The Corrections is a fascinating, insightful, and satisfying book that leaves you thinking about it long after you've put it down.

Awesomely tragic

So, so good. Christmas is already sad, and lord have mercy, family is difficult. Franzen nails it with complete, and interesting characters. Incredibly done.

Almost ...

This was one of the most skillfully done abridgments I've come across - no sense at all that vital material was being left out. Unfortunately the narration was only adequate. Some of the voices were good, others not quite there. As has been pointed out, this is a depressing book, but there are passages of astounding literary brilliance. Often made me think of Roth and Bellow.

Great narration !

I'm glad I lisetened to the abridged version of this book. Even at this length, there was a lot of wandering prose. The author was definitely working to write "literary" with a Capitol L. Somewhere in all the words there is a maddeningly dysfunctional family that is sympathetic in spite of their mistakes and transgretions. And, there LOL moments, too. All of this is read with absolute clarity and conviction. GREAT narration by Dylan Baker.

An interesting book with interesting people.....

But hey, I enjoy reading about messed up folks who only get their head above water long enough to choke down some sea weed. If you like this book go read Choke by Chuck Palahniuk....There's some interestingly neurotic characters in his books as well. The entertainment value of some people's daily struggle is highly under-rated.

I L-O-V-E this book!

Coming from a completely dysfunctional family myself it was so refreshing to read this book. There was no pat ending, no great epiphany that suddenly made all the characters become different people, no redemption, and no deliverance. Just a bunch a crazy people (and aren't we all) trying to wrench a little fun and a little excitement from their lives before they die. Its wonderful and funny and sad and very realistic. I thought it was terrific. I wish audible was set up for recomendations, i.e. if you enjoyed X, you might also enjoy Y. I would love something else along these same lines.

Squeezing the fun out of disfunctional

Would you listen to The Corrections again? Why?

YES! The topics/situations are real to me and so much like how life happens.

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

Freedom; another Franzen work about a disfunctinal family

Which scene was your favorite?

Chip's break up while greeting/entertaining his parents...................

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Mostly it made me remember and think, and anticipate, hoping for the best as each situation unfolded

Wonderful study of growing old

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Hilarious and deeply moving, you find yourself alternately laughing at, abhoring, hating, and loving each disfunctional person in this family as the author digs deeper and deeper into their past and present states of mind. and just for a thoughtful look into the mind of old age and how parkinsons might be like, it's worth it. You think that this author is never going to be able to rescue these people in my mind. But he does. They do redeem themselves, if only in becoming human enough, in spite of all their failings, they do something kind. And I love them for it. It's everything I like in a book. Highly recommend it.

Depressing

I've had this book for months now and can only listen to an hour at a time before I'm so depressed I turn it off. It's smartly written and engaging but overwhelmingly dark. Not a well adjusted character for miles of prose in this novel. It's probably a very realistic book about family turmoil and failed relationships, but who wants something that realistic in their pastime reading? I use books to escape from reality, not drown in it.

So like life

This book really made me think of my grandparents, my mother, myself, so many people I have known are reflected in this story. I was enthralled. I highly recommend it to anyone coming from an abnormal family and trying to cope.