Jonathan Franzen's gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident. A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern family at a historical moment of moral crisis. With characteristic humour and complexity, and with even greater warmth, he conjures a world that feels no less immediate.

Now, for the first time, in Crossroads, Franzen explores the history of a generation. Jonathan Franzen's novels are celebrated for their unforgettably vivid characters and their keen-eyed take on the complexities of contemporary America. Each of the Hildebrandts seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate. Clem's sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who's been selling drugs to seventh-graders, has resolved to be a better person. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless - unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. It's December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago.

Set in a historical moment of moral crisis, Crossroads is the stunning foundation of a sweeping investigation of human mythologies, as the Hildebrandt family navigate the political and social crosscurrents of the past fifty years. The author’s empathy for his characters’ worst behaviors is crucial to this story. Signed Edition - a standard edition is available here Despite the degeneracy of a few characters, Franzen also counters the ugly with the softest, gentlest, and most forgiving grace that I remember from his novels Purity, Freedom, and even Corrections.

Franzen crossroads review