Great American reading: "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen

1 January 2011

With a book like this, I really wonder if there is any point in me saying anything at all. "Freedom" is that rarest of books, the literary fiction super-hit, mega-bestseller, opined about by anyone who has any interest in writing,  at least heard of by millions of people who have not, and perhaps never will, read it. This is a book which has not only generated myriads of reviews, but spoofs of reviews, such as one I saw in the Washington Post which cited the New York Times' view that the main, if not the only, reason some Chinese eunuch invented paper 4000 years ago is so that one day "Freedom" could be printed on it. (In this Slate video: http://www.slatev.com/video/book-reviews-way-outside-box/)

Indeed, the New York Times is the reason I bought "Freedom". As a devoted listener to the New York Times Book Review podcast (handily 1 podcast = exactly the time it takes to walk to work in Strasbourg), I was exposed at length to the effusions of Sam Tanenhaus and the universal editorial adoration which greeted Freedom even before it was published. In the last podcast I heard in December, it duly topped the NYT "notable" 5 books of the year, though by this stage, even the Times had the decency simply to mention the fact, rather than effuse all over again. Sales backed up the hype: this was a literary novel which saw off pulp bestsellers, political memoirs and self help manuals at the top of the lists in 2010.

So why on earth would I even consider it worthwhile saying anything about this?

Well, I suppose I have to, having undertaking to say at least something about every book I read (whether anyone's interested or not) and maybe because just one person more or less may be tipped one way or the other into reading or not reading what is a physically fairly daunting tome, at 576 pages.

The length is the first clue to the nature of this book. It is in many ways a good, old-fashioned novel, which takes its time to tell a long convoluted story. The story is that of a contemporary middle class, now middle-aged, American couple, Patty and Walter Berglund, the travails of their tortured marriage, the not-quite dissolution of their family, and their relationship, jointly and severally, with Walter's best friend, the obscure then famous alternative rock star, Richard Katz. Along the way, we touch big themes: the wanton destruction of the environment, the death (?) of liberal America, changing mores social and sexual, the rapaciousness of big business and much more. This is a big novel in many senses: in theme, scope, depth, complexity. It is genuinely a contender for that elusive status of Great American Novel.

Positively 19th century in novelistic form, scale and ambition (references in the book to "War and Peace" gladly invite comparison), "Freedom" is however, very much about early 21st century America, right down to explicit references to contemporary politics and even an anti-iPod/anti-Apple rant from the Richard Katz character, who operates to some degree, it seems clear enough, as Franzen's alter-ego in the novel. "Freedom" is very good at dissecting the disfunctions of contemporary American culture, though never in a way which is simplistic or over-ideological. Indeed, if the book can be said to be about something, it is about how human beings, albeit living in and shaped by their context, choose their fates through the choices they make. This is the "freedom" of the title, the freedom of the modern American radically to screw up his or her life, but also to recover, perhaps, something from the wreckage.

There is arguably something peculiarly American about this. The thought crossed my mind several times as I read this as to how "universal" the experiences Franzen describes are. At a higher level, of course, just as Tolstoy's characters are universal. However, just like Tolstoy, Franzen tells a story which needs to unfold in a specific context. This tale would be impossible in a more traditional, cohesive society, and must to some degree beg the question of how high a price it is worth paying for the Freedom to go hopelessly off the rails, as individuals and as a society. For although in some ways the novel has a "happy" ending, it is against a pretty bleak and desolate background that the ending occurs.

Don't go off with the idea though that this book is some sort of "indictment of contemporary America"; it is just too complex, personal and intelligent for that. Franzen has terrific insight into his characters' motivations and an inspired ability to express his insight. This is amongst other things a book chock-full of sentences which simply jump off the page at you, sentences you can only read with a "wow" of admiration.

Like any book of this length and scale, "Freedom" is doubtless open to criticism on certain points. Maybe, for example, the Patty character could, as some critics have said, be slightly more rounded and does, indeed, contain some slight inconsistencies. But to attempt to find fault with this novel is also very quickly to appreciate how insignificant the faults are, and what a monumental, writerly achievement this is. My guess is that anyone who likes books, and has ever dreamed of the great novel inside them, dreams about something like "Freedom".

Recommendation: guess what? I'm going to recommend this book. I'd go further: if you believe fiction matters, if you think there is - or can be - such a thing as a Great Novel, if you value writing as an art, then you have to read this book.

Not a great cover, but a Great Novel