The Corrections

If you look beyond the hyperbole that surrounded The Corrections upon its publication, you will find a marvellously entertaining, thought-provoking, moving and laugh-out-loud hilarious book. Even if you never see the metaphor of 'family-as-America-in-microcosm, state-of-the-nation, terminal-decline etc etc' supposedly contained within, you will still have enjoyed one of the best novels to have been published in a long time.

The Lambert family is in disarray. Alfred, the father, is losing control of his body and mind, Enid, his wife, has endured an unhappy marriage for years, but wants to gather all her children back to the Mid-West, for one last family Christmas before Alfred's impending demise. The children are reluctant, primarily because Alfred was a tyrannical father whose corrosive influence ruined their childhoods, but also because their own lives are in turmoil: Chip has blown his academic career and is headed for disaster in Central Europe; Gary, married to the beautiful Caroline and with children of his own, is deeply depressed but doesn't believe he is; and Denise, outwardly successful in her job as a chef, is troubled by a chaotic personal life.

Franzen exploits the flaws in his characters mercilessly, but not purely for comic effect (although parts of the book are very amusing indeed); these are all people scarred by life, struggling to cope with the decisions they have made and, on the whole, not doing very well. Alfred's mental and physical decline acts as a catalyst for reuniting them all in one place after many years apart, but, far from fostering the 'happy family' Christmas Enid longs for, this serves largely to reignite old controversies.

The Corrections uncannily puts its finger on the conflicts and difficulties inherent in family relationships, and reminds us that much of family life is farcical, deeply tragic and frequently absurd. Franzen is not the first writer to point this out - nor will he be the last - but he has created, for the most part, ghastly, selfish characters with whom we all have sympathy at some point. This is a great and clever piece of writing that deserves to be read.