Two Umbrellas

Freedom by Jonathan Frazen

Ahh, Freedom! What to say about Freedom that hasn’t been said already? Truthfully, I don’t really know what was said about it since I’ve given up on reading book reviews. (I barely have time to read books let alone articles about books.) But I do have this to say about the book: I didn’t not like it. Yes, I know, quite passive - a non-statement, really just a state of ambivalence. I don’t regret reading it; but, if I hadn’t read it, I wouldn’t be upset. (That’s a telling statement since I wouldn’t be able to say that without reading it.) All in all, I think my most definitive feeling about it was that I thought it could have used a more discerning editor. Does that mean I didn’t like it? Yes and no.

While the novel is seemingly the story of the Burglands, it is really a story about Walter and a story about Joey. More simply, a story about two men and the women they love. Yet, how or why they love the women they love is elusive. Of course, there is no rhyme or reason for why people fall in love (that’s why there’s literature). Franzen’s characters just seem to be in love. As readers we must accept it. (In great novels, it shouldn’t matter. We happily accept it.) But in these cases, Walter with Patty and Joey with Connie, love plagues the men and left me wondering why - what is it about these women? Franzen had a word for it: interesting. I wish I had the energy to count how many times interesting was used to describe women. The editor in me almost did until I realized what interesting really meant. Sexy. So the women are sexy? That’s it? That’s it? Thinking back on the novel, I could be willing to accept that - chemistry is hard to explain. However, Franzen spends two sections from Patty’s point of view in an attempt to round out her character. Unfortunately, most of that leaves Patty an empty character not knowing who she is, which is acceptable, but ultimately leads her to becoming even more sexy through her affair with Richard. And this I found weak.

Admittedly, I’m overanalyzing these fictional characters. They are there to drive the story, and they do; but to what end? Reading Freedom has me questioning what it means to be a literary novel. Franzen is considered a literary author. But why? I can’t recall a sentence from the novel that moved me. I did feel for some of the characters but not as much as I could have. I found Freedom to be a missed opportunity. It is certainly not the novel of our time. Throwing in some popular band names and mentioning the iPod makes the text sound like it has product placements rather than being entrenched in our culture. Add some references to 9/11 and the war in Iraq and the 2000s are covered. I wonder why Franzen treated differently than, say, Nick Hornby.

Yet, it was easy to get sucked into the hype that is Franzen. I fell for it with The Corrections and again with Freedom. (My thoughts on The Corrections are similar to those on Freedom.) I enjoyed the hype. It was fun to buy the book in hardcover. It was fun to avoid the reviews. It was fun to actually read a book right after I purchased it. My apologies to the dozens of books on my shelves that I purchased years ago and still have not read*. It was fun to just read the book. And that’s what I liked about it. It was fun to read. It felt like one step above a beach read: easy, light, interesting story - a little sex, a little politics (but not too much of either). But that is also one thing I didn’t like about it. For a novel over five hundred pages, I was expecting a little more depth. Although, to be fair, maybe I was just hoping for it.

*I’m hoping to change that soon with a 2011 reading resolution.