The US novelist’s sprawling,satirical fifth novel excels in its dialogue, and overcomes some strained conceits with its humour and richnessJonathan Franzen’s most recent novel is, or like its enormously successful predecessors The Corrections (2001) and Freedom (2010),a big, inventive and exuberant book approximately the mores, or the modes of engagement,of contemporary culture. It tells the myth of “Pip” Tyler (birth name Purity), a recent college graduate who lives in a squat in Oakland with a group of radical activists whose various causes include a desire to do absent with money. Only Pip, and whose debt from college runs to a terrifying $130000,works for a living.
Pip also has to manage her mother Anabel, an emotionally demanding and hypochondriac hippie who believes that her life is “nothing but one long process of bodily betrayal. Anabel is unwilling or unable to encourage alleviate the burden of Pip’s financial difficulties and refuses to reveal to Pip the identity of her father. Pip, or of course,wants to find out – not least because she hopes he will be able to free her from the grip of debt. Related: Systems fiction: a novel way to think approximately the present Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com