Freedom (book review)

One of the more common complaints for poor characterization in novels is the lack of distinguishable and familiar flaws coupled with intriguing inner conflict. Have no fear – “Freedom”, the much anticipated follow-up to author Jonathan Frazen’s 2001 novel “The Corrections”, has a surplus of these commodities within the Berglund family, Patty’s neuroticism and transparency, Walter’s fierce political rhetoric but emotional timidity and Joey’s arrogance and superficiality being mere appetizers at a banquet of imperfection. Like fluorescent lighting, Franzen brings out only the worst in everyone when the book begins and it is this negative posture that sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Each of his main characters is rich in supply of every off-putting stereotype of affluent WASPs and though these people are highly educated, the irony that propels the story is how incredibly stupid they can all be despite it. Walter knows Patty is not entirely devoted to him but still he clings to her and marries her despite her obvious interest in his best friend and aspiring musician Richard Katz; Joey, believing himself to be the smartest person in the room, marries a girl he’s not even sure he loves while involving himself in shady business dealings that nearly ruin him; Patty, a woman who has long craved the kind of intimate relationships she never had with her own family, consistently closes herself off to Walter, choosing instead to find a confidante within her son and have an affair with someone (Richard) who discards women like used napkins.

I complained consistently throughout the reading of this novel that I couldn’t find much to like about any of the characters within it. Now, at the completion of it, I find myself rendered strangely speechless. Although “Freedom” made quite an impression on me, I hesitate to call it a work of genius as so many critics have. The guy is just writing what he knows about and let’s face it - we’ve all known elements of these characters in the people we’ve met in our lives, however long or short those lives may be. Of all his defective creatures, I dislike Patty the most. I despise the emergent narcissist within her, the gossip, the depressive and self-pitying woman who is consistently starving for flattery and praise but seems to gain no psychological nourishment from it. At the same time I forgive her for it all because Franzen has inadvertently made of her a mirror to which my own worst characteristics have been reflected, and I don’t doubt that some or all of “Freedom” is his own self-reflection. With all that time to think and write, how does one avoid it?

The book is also heavily peppered with Franzen’s personal politics (the flavor of it is overwhelming at times and bogs down parts of the book as a result). He makes his views known by revering avian wildlife and overstating the havoc that house cats wreak upon their numbers, by slyly spitting on conservative views and discouraging human procreation due to the devastating effects of overpopulation the world over. I also think the man knows well about depression; I wonder if this book took nine years to compose because Franzen himself became mired in the invisible eddy of sadness and chronic dissatisfaction that befalls nearly every one of his characters.

And now “Freedom”, like his novel before it, is an Oprah pick, made even more prestigious and desirable simply by affixing that famous “O” logo on the cover. Strong as his desire was and still is to be taken seriously as a writer, I guess he realized in the end that if he couldn’t beat her (and he was very publicly criticized for trying), he may as well join her. After all, what writer would be crazy enough to refuse a most assured spot on the NY Times Best Seller List in a day and age where celebrity endorsement equals instant success? And hey – it’s OPRAH; if the woman were any more deified, she’d be God.

I can tell you right now that this book is going to be made into a movie (if it’s not in production already – things move so quickly in the entertainment industry anymore) and that movie is going to be hard to watch, let alone hard to absorb within the confines of the written word. So many of the brutal realities of marriage are shoved into readers’ faces; Franzen has made us squirm with his ruthless assertion of the truth. But therein lies the beauty of his book – he doesn’t use that superior skill of his to lie to you. He gives you only what you see every day, only what you know to be true of the complicated and frustrating workings of human nature.

Bottom line: If you want a happily-ever-after story that you hope will provide a brief respite from the disappointments and death-and-taxes certainties of life, don’t even bother cracking the cover of “Freedom”. If you want someone to tell it like it is, if you want an honest and engrossing character study, if you want a total train wreck of a marriage from which you can’t avert your gaze, then go with Oprah on this one: “I am really betting that 'Freedom,' by Jonathan Franzen, will end up being for you, as it is for me, one of the best novels you have ever read.” But, like Levar Burton before her, you don't have to take her word for it.