Ms. Hen reviews The Corrections

 

The Corrections

Jonathan Franzen

Picador

2001

Ms. Hen picked this book up a a Little Free Library near where she lives. She took it because she had heard of the book, and people thought it was good. She didn't remember exactly what she had heard except that it is considered an important book and it won awards.

This novel is about a dysfunctional family from the Midwest. The mother, Enid, wants her family to be reunited for one last Christmas. The father, Alfred, is losing his mind and developing dementia. The middle son, Chip, lives in New York, and has lost his job teaching at a college because he had an affair with a student. Gary, the oldest, lives outside of Philadelphia, is a bank vice president, is married and has three children, and is depressed. Denise, the youngest, works as a chef, and has affairs with married men.

Ms. Hen read 135 pages of this novel and she almost stopped reading it because she thought all the characters were assholes. The beginning section is about Chip, and Ms. Hen decided she hated him. She continued reading because the writing is good, and she wanted to see if the characters would redeem themselves. Parts of this novel are outright hilarious, but they are the type of humor that makes the reader cringe. The women in this novel are mostly castrating bitches, the mother, the sister, the girlfriends and wives, which Ms. Hen does not enjoy. She gets the feeling that the author doesn't like women much.

Ms. Hen understands this novel was famous when it came out. She had it hanging around, and her rooster brother told her that he and his friends had a joke that they copied from a comedy sketch with someone waking up with this book on them. He said he never read the book, and didn't know what it was about, but it was a joke. Ms. Hen's hen sister told her she bought the book because the author was the only person who turned down an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's book club, which people thought was outrageous at the time.

Some chickens appear, which Ms. Hen appreciates. Chip is talking to his girlfriend about his screenplay that has been rejected, " 'But for a woman reading it,' Julia said obstinately, 'It's sort of like the poultry department. Breast, breast, thigh, leg.' " Ms. Hen almost laughed out loud when she read this, but she was disgusted at the same time.

It took Ms. Hen two weeks to read this novel. It doesn't usually take her that long to read something, but she wasn't really into it, so it took longer. She doesn't understand what the big deal about this book could be. The writing is good, but the characters are so despicable, that it makes her wonder why people like it. She understand that it's supposed to be satire, but she doesn't find it satirical. It's about a bunch of assholes. Satire or assholes? You can decide for yourself if you want to spend the time.