Crossroads – Jonathan Franzen

Normally book reviews from the club have a “marmite” flavour reflecting the often contrasting views of individual members. Unusually though Crossroads was liked by every member and in some cases complimented very highly.

 

If there was one criticism raised it it was that (with 900 pages) it was too long but everybody was drawn into the book (as if watching a soap opera) and  stuck with it and in several cases are interested in reading the next two instalments.

 

Crossroads describes a dysfunctional family in 1970s midwestern USA who come together at Thanksgiving “at a pivotal moment of moral crisis”.

 

In an effort to keep our reviews as succinct as possible the group summarised their thoughts as follows:

 

Writing and dialogue

·      Was almost universally good.

·      Long and interestingly structured but easy to read because it had a strong narrative flow. The book was enjoyed because it read like an addictive soap opera.

·      Great descriptions of the decline and fall of the overly bright but pompous pothead son Perry and the mayhem such a life can cause.

·      It was rather compulsive reading-with a fluent, readable style with sufficiently strong storyline that you wanted to keep reading.

 

Characters

·      Intricate interesting characters with incredibly detailed portraits of their lives

·      Brilliant at getting himself into the minds of teenagers.

·      Captured the different stages of adolescence 15-17-19 very well and differentiated between them well.

·      Real and well developed characters.

·      The characters were so real there was so much detail and perceptive description of their thoughts and actions.

·      Great characters flawed yet likable a real sense of what is going on in their minds and bodies their perceptions and relationships the ups and downs of love affairs and of religious feelings. Build a very full,deep and interesting sense of the whole family and the people they interact with.

 

Relationships

Franzen is brilliant at relationships with each character’s webs all interlinking in a giant 3D silk sculpture… he describes all the parts of people that those close never get to know or at least fully understand and focuses on the minutiae of the small things of every day life which are fascinating despite all their intricacy, complexity and density.

 

Religion

·      The theme of religion runs through the whole book and the ideas and debates over the nature of religion Christianity and belief were enjoyed particularly by RV.

·      Most of all the book left Chris W with  questions about religion and particularly Christianity and its impact on its disciples and the complication it adds to people’s lives.

·      Many similarities with the strict closeted religious lifestyle described in education by Tara Westover.

 

Dilemmas

·      Full of real life dilemmas  anti-war yet personal morality not to dodge the draft, religious belief versus personal behaviour, love for children and an inability to give them what they want, sexual drive versus personal morality.

 

Family

·      Builds a very full, deep and interesting sense of the whole family and the people they interact with.

·      The underlying theme in the book is that nothing is more important than family.

 

Context

·      Many remarked how they were able to connect with many of the themes in the book which brought back vivid memories of their own experiences in the 1970s. 

·      MTs upbringing with his strict religious father-so much of my youth in this-my father’s church, youth club and its camps -lots of religion there and naughty things with girls such as snogging and kissing… listening to sermons at church, getting ready to follow a girl sitting in a far away pew afterwards-made it all worthwhile!

·      For SC it gave very vivid personal portraits, he enjoyed the descriptions of life in USA around the time when he was in his late teens.

·      MW memories of his church youth club in Bristol motivated obviously by all the attractive Christian girls that also attended!

·      For JH the author captured a time that had a huge impact on him when he visited and lived in the US-Franzen captured well both the big things such as the joys and tribulations of young love, pervasive presence of dope, the overriding influence of the Vietnam war as well as the little things in life such as the noise of a Maytag washing machine and of his Plymouth Fury car.

·      For CB it gave a good feel for the context of the early 1970s, the last stages of the Vietnamese war, smalltown America, poor conditions of native Americans, separated racial communities, the new vogue for openness (however manufactured).

 

Underlying Theme 

·      What is it to be good? Can goodness ever truly be its own reward or consciously or not does it always serve some personal instrumentality?

·      Very enjoyable musing on the nature of being good.

·      Can you be good by nailing your colours to a religious mast, or does it come more from inside? Arguably what Rick introduces to Crossroads has a more profound effect on most of the kids than any religious teaching-in other words, be good and interested in each other.

 

Drugs

·      Descriptions of drugs and Perry’s descent into serious drug misuse very well described and even the description of Becky when she is horribly stoned is well described.

·      The effects of drugs and paranoia is well described.

 

Negatives

·      Over- long and rather petered out at the end possibly in preparation for the next two volumes of the trilogy.

 

Scores

AA7.5

SC 7.5

CB 8.2

MW 7.0

CW 7.75

MT  8.5

JH 7.5

RV 8.5