Franzen, Jonathan

(US, 1959– )

Franzen's big, ambitious, and extremely funny novel The Corrections (2001) explores the life of the Lamberts; father Alfred, losing his mind to Parkinson's; mother Enid, determined to preserve appearances and have one last happy family Christmas in their mid-western home; daughter Denise, brilliant chef and lover to both her employer and his wife; uxorious, money-loving older son Gary; and underachieving younger son Chip, employed in a surreal trouble-shooting role in Lithuania. Through these lives and their entanglements Franzen presents a picture of the world as well as of a family; brutally honest, closely observed, witty, and deeply moving—especially in the parents' stories—this is one of the best novels of the last ten years. The 27^th City (1988), set in St Louis, is a political thriller. It shows the city turned inside out after the installation of a new police chief, a young woman from Bombay. As in The Corrections, the writing hums with energy.

John Updike, Philip Roth  JR