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Apr 09, 2016llwboston rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I always recommend "The Corrections" or "Freedom" to readers, but this Franzen novel left a bad aftertaste. For me the attempt to write an "epic" tying world-changing events (fall of the Berlin wall, 9-11, debt crisis) to interpersonal relationships got lost in the repetition (in multiple character scenarios) of the following depressing themes: Mothers exist to do damage to their children; Men (as a result of damage inflicted by their mothers) are immature, sex-obsessed and at some point become inflamed with the desire to kill their female partners; Social media = totalitarianism I certainly did not detect a "hopeful, sympathetic world view" beyond the narrow activities of the title character in the final pages.