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
(Image credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New Yorker)

“The pandemic novels are coming,” said Anthony Cummins in The Observer. Having featured tangentially in recent works by Rachel Cusk and Sally Rooney, lockdown is “far from a garnish” in Sarah Hall’s doomy “tale of sex and death”.

Edith, the narrator, is a sculptor in her late 50s, recalling a time, 20 years ago, when Britain was ravaged by a fictional “deadly virus” that liquefies its victims from the inside. Edith spent much of that lockdown in bed with Halit, her Turkish lover, said Claire Allfree in The Times.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up
Latest Videos FromThe Week