The Corrections (Unabridged)
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $33.99
Publisher Description
The Corrections is a grandly entertaining novel for the new century--a comic, tragic masterpiece about a family breaking down in an age of easy fixes. After almost fifty 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 specatcularly at 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 Franzen as one of our most brilliant interpreters of American society and the American soul.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this darkly funny, warmly empathetic family epic, Jonathan Franzen blends sharp social comedy with genuine tenderness. Midwestern matriarch Enid Lambert wants one last perfect Christmas with her three adult children as her husband Alfred’s health falters. Gary weighs a fraying marriage, disgraced academic Chip chases ill-advised schemes, and gifted chef Denise rebuilds after costly choices. As the holiday approaches, long-simmering grievances and risky plans draw the family back together. Franzen’s scenes feel lived in and electric, moving from crowded kitchens and commuter trains to far-flung ventures with the same precise, observant touch. The novel’s biting humour comes from its authenticity about money, status, aging, and the fragile bargains families make, while its warmth arises from characters who feel stubbornly real even at their worst. The momentum builds steadily, so the homecoming lands with both irony and heart. Narrator George Guidall delivers an assured, worldly performance: his voices remain distinct without showiness, his timing flatters the humour, and the novel’s emotional currents surface cleanly. A sprawling, sharply observed listen, The Corrections turns holiday plans into a reckoning with love, pride, and change.
