A World of False Choices

Nine years ago, Jonathan Franzen published The Corrections, his third novel but the first to make an impact on the world of American fiction. That impact was amplified by the dustup in which Franzen, selected for Oprah Winfrey’s book club, made abrasive remarks about the club (“I cringe,” he said of the books typically chosen), and was then disinvited from an appearance on her show. As for the novel itself, The Corrections aspired to be, in the words of...

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