Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Fourth Estate $38.99
Before Jonathan Franzen won the National Book Award for his sparkling novel The Corrections, he had written two earlier novels. These works - a little dull, a little worthy, heavy on plot - seemed to have almost no connection with the amazing lift-off and sprightly energy of his prize-winning novel.
Freedom, Franzen's fourth novel, is a kind of connect-the-dots between these two seemingly disparate parts of Franzen's oeuvre. Freedom is, in the main, a highly energised and incisive look at the mess of contemporary America. But very occasionally the didactic impulse behind those earlier works bobs to the surface with all the obdurateness of something escaping from the hold of a long sunk shipwreck.
The central character is Patty, a prize-winning basketball player in a headlong rush away from her ghastly overachieving family. The core event is her politically liberal family's response to her date rape. Patty's problem is she prefers indie rockstar bad boy Richard with his "Jewfro" and attitude over Walter, the safe "wonderful" man she has married.
Walter is Richard's best friend. It's an entirely recognisable syndrome and not too far from Carrie Bradshaw. Walter is an earnest politico and unfortunately he has to carry the enormous ballast of political thought which at times threatens to slow this novel down to a standstill. Walter becomes involved in a mining scheme which promises to save an at-risk native bird. (Think Russel Norman agreeing to mine the Coromandel so one of those annoying Radio NZ National birds can twitter away for another day.)
The book is astute in its satire and Franzen is never so good as when he's looking at the fag end of love, the complicated dance couples do to keep emotionally alive. There's vivid hate and what he also memorably called "the quiet majesty" of a long marriage. The novel is multi-generational and sprawling. Chapters routinely run as long as the average tight-lipped New Zealand novel. It's prairie-broad and I have admit as a reader I'll forgive a lot for this kind of writing. He not only attempts the big picture, he pretty much delivers on it.
There are flaws here, unevenness and even some thuddingly dull pages at a stretch. But Franzen is one of those writers who still believes in the immediacy of the novel. It's the novel as news, with big things to say on the environment, politics, the family, love, sex and intimacy. There's a kind of urgency in his writing which is very appealing. This is the kind of novel you can lose a few weekends in - a perfect long read for a rainy day, day after day (even if you do skip a few pages) - at the bach.
Peter Wells is a Hawkes Bay writer.
