Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, read by David Ledoux

★★★★ // ★★★★★

♫♫♫ // ♫♫♫♫♫

[24 hours, 9 minutes]

I came away from Freedom not sure how to feel, but definitely a little more sullen that I was when I started it. I enjoyed Franzen's exploration of mankind's fallibility through his characters. However, even though these characters were compelling in their sadnesses and failings and the ways the went about dealing with conflict, I can only deal with a certain amount of hopelessness, especially in audiobook form for 24 hours and 9 minutes. I felt that there were not enough bright moments to give me the sense that the struggle of life is worth it.

This book received a lot of criticism after being called The Next Great American Novel because critics (and a lot of people writing GoodReads reviews) argued that it is only The Great American Novel for white, middle-class, green liberals. I think this is argument is a waste of breath, but here is my response to it: There are three levels to multicultural theory: 3) Universal - we are all human and share certain characteristics and sentiments as a result. 2) Group - We belong to cultural groups that tend to determine our culture, values, etc. 1) Individual - We are all individuals and thus different from everyone else. Freedom, though people criticizing it tend to focus on the book's emphasis on level 2, exists at all three of those levels. Novels should be judged for what they are, not what they aren't. Call it The Great American Novel if you want. But I think it presents a pretty bleak portrayal of America and suburban life in America. However, it is definitely worth reading or listening to. It asks a lot of worthwhile questions and captures the feelings of a particular culture during our time period. It's an important book to have read.

Though David Ledoux's reading is seamless and nearly transparent, Freedom may not be the right book for you if you are unable to devote nearly all of your attention to it. I found myself pausing or losing track of what I was doing pretty often to concentrate better on the story. Also, at 24 hours long, this audiobook may be too demanding for casual listeners.