It took me a few weeks to read „The Corrections“ by american writer Jonathan Franzen (published in 2001), a novel about five Midwestern anxiety-ridden family members set in the late 1990th. There are the parents, Enid (an obsessive wife and mother) and Alfred (the stern patriarch battling Parkinson’s‘ induced dementia) as well as their three very different children Gary (a depressed investment banker), Chip (a failed literature professor and screen play author) and Denise (a succesful chef struggling with her sexual identity). The novel weaves from one family member to another and from the present to the past, climaxing in one final Christmas that Enid wishes to spend with her entire family in the family’s house.
In the beginning, I found it hard to get used to Franzen’s language and the big plot, describing the ordinary contemporary life of an american family, but after a while I got used to it and was totally involved with each characters troubles. So, if you have some patience with in the beginning difficult books, I can strongly recommend it to you ! For for the rest of you, there are rumors that a drama series project of „The Corrections“ is prepared.
More Information:
Nice New York Times article about Franzen writing „The Corrections“
Wikipedia