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Jul 13, 2016Ethan_Annis rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
For me Freedom, published in 2010, served as a coda for the time described by Frank Rich as the decade of the zeros. (The 1980’s were called the 80’s, the 1990’s were called the 90’s…) Franzen captures the time when things were done without a regard for the consequences. Americans were “free” but had no regard for how their choices affected others. This was true both at the level of individuals and at the level of the entire nation. Franzen’s epic novel follows the Berglund family as they become corrupted and gradually find their ways back to integrity. The father, directing a non-profit environmental conservation organization, finds himself an enabler for a wealthy man who wants to strip mine for coal (mountain top removal). In his mind this is a good thing. The mother slashes her neighbor’s tires and has an affair. The son becomes a war profiteer. Meanwhile at a national level two wars are begun while taxes are cut. The characters in Freedom eventually return to a state of integrity, where they are considering the wider consequences of their actions and there is a reckoning. The fate of the country isn’t resolved but Franzen’s description is the most vivid of our current state that I’ve read.