The hype surrounding the release of Jonathan Franzen\u2019s latest novel, Freedom,<\/em> dazzled book lovers everywhere, even if [conservative pundit] David Brooks was less than impressed.\u00a0 The reviewer in the NYT<\/em> Book Review section called it \u201ca masterpiece of American fiction,\u201d\u00a0 Time<\/em> magazine put Franzen on its cover, and Curtis Sittenfeld, writing for The Guardian,<\/em> fittingly characterized the novel as \u201c . . . a long, juicy, scathing, funny and poignant indictment of contemporary American life.\u201d\u00a0 Masterpiece?\u00a0 Maybe, but it is definitely a rollicking good read even at 560 pages.\u00a0 It also covers most of the reasons we feel cranky about our lives today.<\/p>\n

Walter Bergland, the husband of the couple whose lives form the basic narrative of the book, is a good man who has always taken care of the most important people in his life.\u00a0 Of course this sets him up to be royally taken for granted and angry, but he does see life clearly most of the time.\u00a0 In the middle of big discussion with his daughter, his old college roommate and his assistant, Walter speaks a profound idea.\u00a0 He says:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all circling around the same problem of personal liberties . . . People came to this country for either money or freedom.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have money, you cling to your freedoms all the more angrily.\u00a0 Even if smoking kills you, even if you can\u2019t afford to feed your kids, even if your kids are getting shot down by maniacs with assault rifles.\u00a0 You may be poor, but the one thing nobody cantake away from you is the freedom to fuck up your life whatever way you want to.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Bill Clinton figured out \u2013 that we can\u2019t win elections by running against personal liberties.\u00a0 Especially not against guns, actually. (361)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That speech startles because of its truth.\u00a0 Americans love their freedoms more than anything, even though we\u2019ve been told repeatedly that freedoms are not free.\u00a0 It helps explain why so many supposedly sane Americans were determined last November to vote for candidates opposed to the health care reform bill, whose mandates include the provision that everyone must have health insurance.\u00a0 Despite the economic and public policy reasons, many Americans came out fighting against the entire bill because of this one provision.\u00a0 They don\u2019t seem to realize that our health care costs are hugely larger in proportion to our gross domestic product than those of any other developed country, while at the same time our quality of health care is sadly mediocre. The only way to fix this inequity is for everyone to be insured.\u00a0 But Americans, including many who are grateful for their Medicare coverage, resist fiercely the idea that the government should be involved in their health care.<\/p>\n

Maybe this also explains why so many middle class Americans can enthusiastically support tax cuts that offer them nothing (no trickle down for us!) while they offer the rich greater money and power.\u00a0 Why, when we have the freedom to vote for the things we need and deserve, such as decent health care, good schools, social safety nets for our most vulnerable citizens, real jobs, and an end to preemptive wars, do we vote against our own self-interests?\u00a0 Maybe because we love our freedom to vote any way we damned please? Ouch! \u00a0It appears that Franzen may have read Thomas Frank\u2019s astute book, What\u2019s the Matter with Kansas?<\/em> which appeared about six years ago.<\/p>\n

In addition to circling the dilemmas and costs of personal and political freedom again and again, Franzen\u2019s novel also encompasses population control, ornithology, mountaintop removal mining, corporations both at home and in Iraq, rebellious and neglected children, depression, family dysfunction, marital loneliness, enduring love, and the rock music scene, past and present.\u00a0 We enjoy it because it covers just about everything that worries and upsets us, at the same time that it is remarkably funny and thoroughly authentic.<\/p>\n

Most people who finish Freedom <\/em>will not regret reading it, but it is certainly not a perfect book.\u00a0 The character of Patty is especially problematic, since she personifies vitality in the beginning of the book, then seems to fade.\u00a0 The sections that she supposedly writes as\u00a0 autobiography at the suggestion of a therapist do not always sound like Patty\u2019s voice.\u00a0 In addition, there are some plot manipulations that don\u2019t feel quite natural.\u00a0 But these are small complaints outweighed by the pure pleasure of living with these delectable Franzen characters.\u00a0 The reader will identify with some, feel compassion for almost all of them and will miss them terribly when the book is finished.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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