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From Amazon
Jonathan Franzen is smart and brash, the kind of person you want as your social critic but not as a brother-in-law. Many of the 14 essays in How to Be Alone, by the author of the 2001 novel The Corrections, first appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, and elsewhere. A long, much-discussed rumination on the American novel, (newly) titled "Why Bother?", is included, as well as essays on privacy obsession, the U.S. post office, New York City, big tobacco, and new prisons. At his best, as in a piece on his father's struggle with Alzheimer's, Franzen can make the ordinary world utterly riveting. But at times, it can be difficult to discern where Franzen stands on any particular subject, as he often takes both sides of an argument. Valid attempts to reflect ambiguity sometimes lead to obfuscation, especially in his essays on privacy and tobacco, although his belief that small-town America of years gone by offered the individual little privacy certainly rings true. Franzen can write with panache, as in this comment after he watched, without headphones, a TV show during a flight: "(It) became an exposé of the hydraulics of insincere smiles." A few of the shorter pieces appear to be filler. Franzen shines brightest when he gets edgy and a little angry, as in "The Reader in Exile": "Instead of Manassas battlefield, a historical theme park. Instead of organizing narratives, a map of the world as complex as the world itself. Instead of a soul, membership in a crowd. Instead of wisdom, data." --Mark Frutkin
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
"In publishing circles, confessions of self doubt are widely referred to as `whining'-the idea being that cultural complaint is pathetic and self-serving in writers who don't sell, ungracious in writers who do." This quote, taken from his Harper's essay "Perchance to Dream," and later reworked for this collection as "Why Bother," was written before Franzen tasted huge success with his bestselling novel The Corrections. Fans of that work will be intrigued by the elements from Franzen's personal life that run parallel to those of the characters in The Corrections. However, Franzen's adroit cultural criticism, albeit a personal one, is the root of this collection of essays. Hearing such subjective work read by the author himself adds an air of authenticity. It also satisfies a curiosity as to what that voice actually sounds like. This audiobook's editors satisfy that curiosity, but also make the wise choice of not letting Franzen read the entire collection. While his reading is sincere, his delivery, unlike his text, is passionless and dry. Fortunately, the lion's share of the essays is read with much more moxie by James. He gives these intelligent, thoughtful and provocative pieces more dramatic punch than Franzen can.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
HERE'S A MEMORY. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
HERE'S A MEMORY. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The guy don't miss a thing,
By "janikozlowski" (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: How to Be Alone: Essays (Paperback)
I may be one of the only reviewers here who read this book of essays, and has not yet read The Corrections. The novel's on my stack now though, and it's due to a love of the way this guy writes. The essays in How to Be Alone really made me think - and Franzen writes in such a way that you can't imagine any side of the issue that he has left out. My favorite essay is an existential self-commentary about the life of the writer in a world that uses the written word to communicate less and less. He suggests that in the days of the classic novel, writers had a chance to share news and commentary about the richer fibers of life. For much of the population, that need is met through TV now, scary thought as it may be. The essays caused the "Well, I never thought of it *that* way before" reaction for me, and you just can't beat that. The post office essay was also engrossing, and quite the picture of the way people will react when working within a flawed system. Some of the other reviewers here seemed offended by Franzen and commented that he didn't give enough credit to those of us who are the readers out there. I didn't find that to be the case at all, and got the sense that Franzen, in fact, wrote for the lifelong readers out there, certainly not for the Danielle Steel breed of folks. Geez, he dedicates his life work to us. Kinda ironic that he was one of the writers chosen to join the book club that reintroduced serious reading for so many people. He had the chance to affect change in the problem, and then felt invaded by the opportunity. Oprah said that he was "conflicted" and I suppose this was true. To be conflicted is often the case if you dare to dig deep enough and explore an issue. At the end of How to Be Alone, I really wanted more of Franzen's unique way of looking at the world. Glad to see that I have a big, ole, honkin' novel waiting to provide just that.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
The post office essay stands out.,
By Samuel McKewon (Lincoln, NE) - See all my reviews
This review is from: How to Be Alone: Essays (Audio CD)
Franzen hits and misses, both in style and subject matter, but I appreciated his tale of a Chicago post office manager who simply tired of poor carriers and jaded executives above and below her. It was funny and insurgent. What it had to do with privacy, or if it wasn't even meant to, is questionable. The theme of the book is tenuous at best, and seems to have been created as a vehicle to rerun Franzen's "Perchance to Dream" essay that ran in Harper's a few years back, and stirred the literary types of this country. That essay is wordy and, Franzen suggests, not even entirely relevant anymore, but it is angry, and more or less correct.
4.0 out of 5 stars
I like Franzen.,
By A Customer
This review is from: How to Be Alone: Essays (Paperback)
It thrilled me when he did not acquiesce to Oprah and his essays validate my high opinion of this writer. His concern for our nation of non-readers is shared by many. It is frightening that millions of children grow up under the supervision of a television - with no bedtime book to encourage thoughts and dreams. It's not surprising that our young people do so poorly in school and later on in business. One needs to know how to read in order to succeed. High praise for this author for doing his part to insure that we have good books to read.
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