Book of the week: Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Franzen’s new book is an absorbing look at the ‘last, confused years of the Age of Aquarius’
Jonathan Franzen has always written his best novels when he resists the urge to dissect America and goes back to “basics”: anatomising family life, said James Walton in The Daily Telegraph. He did this brilliantly in the “all-conquering” The Corrections (2001), and he has done so again in his equally superb sixth novel. Part one of a trilogy titled “A Key to All Mythologies” (a reference to Mr Casaubon’s “famously futile life’s work” in Middlemarch), Crossroads is set in the early 1970s, in the fictional Illinois town of New Prospect.
It centres on five members of the dysfunctional Hildebrandt family: Russ, a “liberal Christian pastor”; Marion, his downtrodden wife; college student Clem; and his teenage siblings Becky and Perry. “Moving from one character to another with unhurried efficiency, Franzen inhabits all of them with total conviction and a Middlemarch-like ability to know more about them than they know themselves.”
At the heart of the novel is a progressive youth group called “Crossroads”, which is presided over by a charismatic young pastor named Rick, said Thomas Mallon in The New York Times. Although it’s based at his church, Russ himself has been ejected from the group, having used “sexually frank” language while counselling a teenage girl.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Humiliatingly, however, his children still attend, though their motives for doing so aren’t especially pure: Becky is there because she fancies the guitarist; Perry sees an opportunity to deal drugs. In the background, larger issues loom – the Vietnam War, changing sexual mores – but these don’t unduly disrupt Franzen’s family saga. “Nicely textured”, and full of “nimble” dialogue, Crossroads is an absorbing look at the “last, confused years of the Age of Aquarius”.
Personally, I found it an uneven book, said Claire Lowdon in The Sunday Times. While the “granular characterisation” is predictably brilliant – Franzen is nothing if not the “bard of the backstory” – the plot is marred by a lack of momentum; then, late on, Franzen implausibly “brings all his characters to a big personal crisis at exactly the same moment”.
I disagree, said Xan Brooks in The Guardian: this book is a “pure pleasure to read” from start to finish. “One hopes that Franzen’s trilogy will stay the course, chasing the Hildebrandt family through the 1970s, past Watergate and the energy crisis, all the way to Ronald Reagan’s brash new American morning.”
4th Estate 580pp £20; The Week Bookshop £15.99
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Shardlake: a 'tightly plotted, gorgeously atmospheric piece of television'
The Week Recommends Arthur Hughes captivates in this 'eminently watchable' Tudor murder mystery
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Major League Baseball is facing an epidemic of pitcher's injuries
Under the Radar Many insiders are blaming the pitch clock for the rise in injuries — but the league is not so sure
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
8 movie musicals that prove the screen can share the stage
The Week Recommends The singing and dancing, bigger than life itself
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Daniel Wallace's 5 favorite books that should not be forgotten
Feature The author recommends works by Italo Calvino, Evan S. Connell, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 picturesque homes in Arizona
Feature Featuring a glass elevator in Sedona and a grotto waterfall in Paradise Valley
By The Week Staff Published
-
Silversea cruise review: a Central and North American adventure
The Week Recommends An incredible journey featuring cultural exploration, cooking classes, comfort and more
By Yasemen Kaner-White Published
-
Baffin Island: looking for narwhal in Arctic Canada
The Week Recommends An exploration of this island between mainland Canada and Greenland is ideal for the adventurous at heart
By The Week UK Published
-
Knife: Salman Rushdie's 'mesmeric memoir' of brutal attack
The Week Recommends The author's account of ordeal which cost him his eye is both 'scary and heartwarming'
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sarah Langan recommends 6 women-centric horror books
Feature The horror novelist recommends works by Stephen King, Gillian Flynn, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 spacious homes for car lovers
Feature Featuring a 14-car showroom in Oregon and a Bentley-style apartment in Florida
By The Week Staff Published
-
6 serene homes in Vermont
Features Featuring a four-level Shaker barn in Hartland and a Scandinavian-inspired home in Stowe
By The Week US Published