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Reading this book was a bit like being chained to a radiator for 5 hours while an old eccentric yells at you about birds.
”If you stand in a forest in Southeast Asia, you may hear and then begin to feel, in your chest, a deep rhythmic whooshing. It sounds meteorological, but it’s the wingbeats of Great Hornbills flying in to land in a fruiting tree. They have massive yellow bills and hefty white thighs; they look like a cross between a toucan and a giant panda. As they clamber around in the tree, placidly eating fruit, you may find yourself crying out with the rarest of all emotions: pure joy. It has nothing to do
Before you denigrate yourself for picking up a collection of essays instead of a novel, Franzen makes a brazen argument early on in "The End of the End of the Earth" for its importance (the essay's) in our lives & in Litland as a whole. An essay is a mirror to the writer, to society, to the reader. He gives it a valid worth; these little nuggins are all worth their weight in gold.Please go read "The Corrections." &, yeah, even "Freedom" has its good parts. But essays? Like what personal stuff, a...
I once worked with a grumpy old coot with a lot of opinions, and despite the fact that I generally agreed with him re: environmental horror, the contradictions of capitalism, etc., I generally wanted him to shut his damn trap – I'm already bummed out, and I'd rather be bummed out by a brilliant essay in Dissent or Current Affairs then listen to an aging boomer talk about... anything.It's the same with this volume of Franzen essays. He's a grumpy old coot too, albeit one with writing chops.But do...
Meanwhile the personal essay itself - the formal apparatus of honest self-examination and sustained engagement with ideas, as developed by Montaigne and advanced by Emerson and Woolf and Baldwin - is in eclipse. Franzen gets into line with the tradition of essayists that share both their ideas and experiences and does so impeccably.This copy was kindly provided to me in exchange for an honest review by the publisher via NetGalley.
Any of the essays herein contained, were I to stumble across one unlooked-for in a magazine, would hold my attention and be an interesting read. Gathered together in a single collection, however, they become too similar, insufficiently distinct, so that the eyes glaze over after a few have been read. I do like Franzen, though, he's a good writer with interesting things to say and, whether you agree with him or not, he says them well.
Had these essays offered a bit more diversity on subjects, I would have liked this book much better. While I appreciated Franzen's writing and insights on birds and the state of the environment they thrive in or on the contrary - become extinct, at some point I felt overwhelmed by this repetitive theme.
Sigh. Franzen can write. He is intelligent. His nonfiction is just not my cup of tea. There is an authorial distance I find offputting but I understand why he might write with that distance. As a whole, the collection is uneven. There is a set of rules for the novelist that feels like he jotted some ideas on a napkin and included them in the book. The essay on Edith Wharton.... yikes. He spends quite some time discussing that she was unattractive and like, has he seen male writers throughout his...
By any measure, Jonathan Franzen is a fortunate man. For one thing, he has a God-given talent for writing (both fiction and non-). He has not been without controversy, but has managed to rise above it and when he churns out one of his lengthy, involving novels every seven years or so, is rewarded with a loyal readership. Another way in which he is lucky is that he has an all consuming passion -- he loves birds. Anyone favored with such an interest can be considered lucky. Having something to aim...
Dude, no. stick to fiction. He's just so annoyingly condescending about birds and people and everything. I loved Crossroads and I wanted more so I came to this one and it's like thinking something is water when you're thirsty and taking a big drink only to realize it's actually like stale sprite someone mixed with soap
Reading Franzen is always a good idea.
The cover is accurate: there are LOTS of birds in these essays. Unless you’re a birdwatcher or have a burning interest in the plight of birds threatened by hunting and habitat loss, be prepared to skim or completely skip over the multiple pieces on traveling to a particular place to appreciate its endemic or migratory bird species. I enjoyed the more autobiographical pieces: his temporary friendship with William Vollmann, what it was like in New York City two days after 9/11, and taking a two-we...