Contemporary literature

When I picked up The Corrections, I was guided by the New York Times, which placed it among the one hundred most important books of the twenty-first century: number five on the list. Such a distinction sets expectations high, and Franzen’s novel, in many respects, meets them. At its heart, The Corrections tells the story of the Lambert family: Enid and Alfred, an aging Midwestern couple, and their three adult children, Gary, Chip, and Denise. Enid dreams of gathering everyone for one last per...