Synopsis
Jonathan Franzen's Freedom was the runaway most-discussed novel of 2010, an ambitious and searching engagement with life in America in the twenty-first century. In The New York Times Book Review, Sam Tanenhaus proclaimed it "a masterpiece of American fiction" and lauded its illumination, "through the steady radiance of its author's profound moral intelligence, [of] the world we thought we knew."
In Farther Away, which gathers together essays and speeches written mostly in the past five years, Franzen returns with renewed vigor to the themes, both human and literary, that have long preoccupied him. Whether recounting his violent encounter with bird poachers in Cyprus, examining his mixed feelings about the suicide of his friend and rival David Foster Wallace, or offering a moving and witty take on the ways that technology has changed how people express their love, these pieces deliver on Franzen's implicit promise to conceal nothing. On a trip to China to see first-hand the environmental devastation there, he doesn't omit mention of his excitement and awe at the pace of China's economic development; the trip becomes a journey out of his own prejudice and moral condemnation. Taken together, these essays trace the progress of unique and mature mind wrestling with itself, with literature, and with some of the most important issues of our day. Farther Away is remarkable, provocative, and necessary.
About Jonathan Franzen
See more books from this AuthorAn unfailingly elegant and thoughtful collection of essays from the formidable mind of Franzen, written with passion and haunted by loss.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from Kirkus...a touching portrait of his parents. We have met these two people before, more or less, as Alfred and Enid, the parents in “The Corrections,” and the author again writes wonderfully about his stoical father and overdemonstrative mother.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from NY TimesOne way or another, the essays in Farther Away are attempts to enlarge the place where literature, and the responsiveness to it, can be preserved.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from GuardianFranzen evokes Joan Didion's tone of rigorous self-examination, and Wallace's wit and philosophical prowess.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from Star TribuneFARTHER AWAY showcases that same questing, engaged mind, one unafraid to wrestle with some of the most perplexing mysteries of life and art.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayFarther Away is more product than artistic enterprise.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from Globe and MailThe texts are both a testament to and an illustration of what attracts people to books—a delicate play between writer, text, character, and reader that prompts excellent questions and provides surprising answers.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from AV ClubA multifaceted and revealing collection, “Farther Away” actually brings the reader closer to the author.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from The EconomistFranzen is no intellectual slouch, but he’s no fair-minded judge either. Unfortunately, while his fans might see this as charmingly personal, it`s indiscriminately subjective and reduces these articles from actual essays to simple opinionated rants.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from Toronto StarI’ve never read a collection of essays more pompous and self-serving.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from Toronto Star...Farther Away is too myopic and sad a collection to bear witness to.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from National Post artsHis attitude might be aggressively highbrow, but his underlying concerns are simple and humane: family, age, grief, love.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayBut he is no slouch on the extra-curricular writing front... he writes continually about writing and reading, luxuriating in language and sticking up for literature for literature’s sake.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayLike the best fiction, “Farther Away” charts a way out of loneliness.
Read Full Review of Farther AwaySome [essays] offer in-depth literary criticism but use humor and anecdotes to keep the language from getting too dry.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayAt his best, Franzen exposes himself... with understated humor, level-headed alienation and rare insight, typically at the nexus of self-analysis and self-indulgence.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayCertainly, you're better off reading Franzen's last two novels - and in hoping that, before he begins the next one, he rediscovers his sense of crabby ambivalence.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayDedicated fans of the late David Foster Wallace will want Farther Away for the various tributes, mentions, and even excoriations it offers to Franzen’s lost friend...
Read Full Review of Farther AwayIn both these essays and his own fiction, his words betray an immense amount of care.
Read Full Review of Farther Away“Farther Away” feels like a betrayal of the ethics of storytelling ...
Read Full Review of Farther AwayAnd, ironic as it may be to read the defender of fiction, during a burgeoning golden age of nonfiction, writing essays to defend his craft, it is inspiring.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayHis reflections... are all essayistic in the best sense: both deeply thought out and wonderfully argued.
Read Full Review of Farther Away“Farther Away” isn’t a complete wash... Moments of insight and beauty erupt throughout.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayThe overwhelming tone of Farther Away is defensive and disdainful, perhaps exacerbated by Franzen’s insistence that he is interested in what the novel and the novel alone can say – in which case, why this?
Read Full Review of Farther AwayNot every piece soars, but none fails to get off the ground...
Read Full Review of Farther AwayWith Farther Away, Jonathan Franzen has proved once again why his intelligence, empathy, and humor have earned him widespread acclaim...
Read Full Review of Farther AwayTaken together, however, these writings present a broader, more freewheeling curiosity than the novelist generally indulges in his fiction
Read Full Review of Farther Away...he maintains his ground with characteristic intelligence and earnestness.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayMuch of the book is a record of his attempts to connect with the natural world, and you have to applaud his impassioned plea for authenticity...
Read Full Review of Farther AwayAlthough its diverse subjects are more impersonal than in those collections, Farther Away contains perhaps his most self-revealing work.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayWhen Franzen is brilliant, he’s engaging, not opining.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayWith Farther Away, Mr. Franzen demonstrates his ability to dissect the kinds of quotidian concerns that so often evade scrutiny.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayAs they are, they're unfortunately necessary reminders of what the author is capable of when he has more to do than to say.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayFarther Away is remarkable for many reasons, but perhaps the most is that, in these essays, Franzen has created a testament to the value of fiction and literature.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayBut I think that his work is essential, and this collection of essays enabled me to see him in a new light – more like a friend than an intimidating New Yorker writer.
Read Full Review of Farther AwayFranzen once wrote that “the first lesson reading teaches is how to be alone.” But it’s too far easy to find comfort in your own solitude. Farther Away is one of the most internal and impoverished books I’ve ever read.
Read Full Review of Farther Away | See more reviews from National Post artsAn aggregated and normalized score based on 59 user ratings from iDreamBooks & iTunes
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