Here is a brief selection of the best offerings from the world’s literary pages:
Whilst the chattering classes are reverberating to Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, Jon Michaud of the New Yorker isn’t:
‘I breathed a sigh of relief and held up my hands like a distance runner breaking the tape. Though “Freedom” is sizable enough at 562 pages, it read to me like a much longer book. As I made my way through the final chapters, I began to feel like Walter Berglund, trapped in an unending marriage to this moody, depressive, Patty-like novel, while alluring, Lalitha-like books—“Unbroken,” “Room,” “Tinkers,” etc.—pressed themselves on me. I was sorely tempted to dump “Freedom” and take up with one of those svelte volumes, but having devoted more than a month to the Berglunds, I gritted my teeth and carried on.’
And for those who still can’t get enough, here is Franzen
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