SOURCE: Sayers, Valerie. “Caffeinated Realism.” Commonweal 128, no. 22 (21 December 2001): 23-4.

In the following review of The Corrections, Sayers asserts that Franzen overcomes the initial detail-oriented weakness of his writing style to present a sympathetic account of a crumbling family.

This may be the last review in America to chime in on Jonathan Franzen's gangbusters novel, The Corrections. For anyone who was on cultural leave-of-absence this fall, here's the story: after Franzen's novel was chosen for Oprah Winfrey's book club, he disdained her “logo of corporate ownership” and made other swipes. Oprah—no fool she—rescinded her invitation, but Franzen (who had published his first two novels to decidedly smaller-scale notice) skipped off with the National Book Award, The Corrections ensconced on the bestseller list with more publicity than even Oprah could have garnered.

So after all the to-do, mightn't the last reviewer in America be resistant to the charms...