Jonathan franzen the corrections synopsis

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Enid and Alfred Lambert are an elderly couple living in the small, midwestern town of St. Jude. Their days are filled with boredom, loneliness, and bickering over Alfred’s hoarding and Enid's attempts to redecorate their overcrowded home. In an attempt to break up the monotony, and take Alfred’s mind off of his deteriorating body, they plan a cruise with Nordic Pleasurelines. The boat takes off from New York City, so they fly there to visit their middle-aged son Chip. From his parents' point of view, Chip's life in the big city is scandalous. He reluctantly picks them up from the airport. From the second they are reunited, bickering and passive-aggressive arguments start, showing the obvious div

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Summary and Reviews of The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Reader Reviews

Ryan Schiely
Franzen's Best to Date
From small town life to big city indulgences Franzen's novel brings forth nearly every aspect of family life beginning with childhood memories and working it's way through the fallout of the child-parent relationship and the failing relationship of ...   Read MoreS. Peddycord
The Corrections entertained me while making me question "what the heck is going on here?" I often had to flip back several pages to figure out who, when and where. The author brilliantly jumped from one setting to another (and there are ...   Read Morecindy hartley
I loved this book - deep, perceptive, very in-tune with the American culture. The prose style is beautiful; the descriptions of Alfred's descent into madness are astonishing. Although this novel may be too literary for the general public, I can ...   Read MoreAnonymous
Just finished T

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The Corrections bygd Jonathan Franzen – Book Review

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by Jonathan Franzen
Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2001
Review by Christian Perring, Ph.D. on Oct 21st 2001
Volume: 5, Number: 42

Underneath this rich and often funny tale of a family is a relentless pessimism. The corrections of the title have a number of meanings. There’s correction in the sense of punishment, as in a department of corrections; the correction of the lager market after it has gone too high; and the correcting of a mistake. The bleak theme of the novel fryst vatten that we can’t man up for our mistakes, and there’s no salvation or redemption when we go astray and hurt ourselves and those around us.

The parents of the family, Alfred and Enid, live in St. Jude, in the mid-west. Their children, Gary, Denise and Chip, live on the east coast. Franzen tells the story of each family member, one bygd one. Alfred worked in a railroad company and n