Franzen: s/d

tbf i'm not actually gonna read this

tbf she was probably making the right choice

anyway i am reading nell zink and that's already too close to franzen

http://i.minus.com/jbzHff8gxenJou.jpg

i saw someone at the bistro i had lunch at with this book on her table, she didnt pick it up once during her meal, preferring the company of her phone

― dead (Lamp), Saturday, September 5, 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

#winningAtLife

Now imagining Franzen sitting right behind her and fuming.

I loved that Grantland piece.

yeah, it's kinda beautiful!

I'm on vacation in Sanibel this weekend, and visiting the local bookstore I saw a copy of Purity. I held it up and said to the cashier, "You're gonna sell a lot of these."

She nodded. "Unfortunately."

ha!

my grandparents used to have a house there. on that island. in the olden days. it was nice.

guys, im hearing you all want to do a purity read-along

purity laugh-along more like

Purity of essence

a copy of 'purity' a new novel by johnny franzen was sitting on my dining room table when i got home last night. i'm still not sure how it got there...

I'm 40 pages in, enjoying the writing more than the story

you should leave it on a table at your local starbucks coffee franchise or one of its independent competitors

what a hateful thing to say

"“Maybe being male is like being born a predator, and maybe the only right thing for the predator to do, if it sympathizes with smaller animals and won’t accept that it was born to kill them, is to betray its nature and starve to death”

“I have often wondered what the prey is feeling when it is captured. Often it seems to become completely still in the predator’s jaws, as if it feels no pain. As if nature, at the very end, shows mercy for it.”

oh franzenpaws

“I have often wondered what the prey is feeling when it is captured. Often it seems to become completely still in the predator’s jaws, as if it feels no pain. As if nature, at the very end, shows mercy for it.”

there are a couple-few articles on the internet presenting being pro-franzen as a contrarian position and they make me sad and disheartened

beautiful http://review.gawker.com/jonathan-franzens-purity-is-an-irrelevant-piece-of-shit-1729287392

judging by this thread, being pro-franzen probably is a contrarian position at this point

there are abt 8thousand more worthy targets for all the shit he gets but whatever

its essentially become a meme for ppl who mostly have never read anything hes written except perhaps excerpts im guessing

thats true up to a point (certainly the more worthy targets part)

i have read the corrections, i recall thinking it was ok at the time (this was like 2009 iirc, i was still in college), i tried freedom and was like "nahdawg" within a chapter or so, then i started noticing the things he was saying out loud

"Often it seems to become completely still in the predator’s jaws, as if it feels no pain. As if nature, at the very end, shows mercy for it.”

Franzen seems utterly captivated by his own ignorant musings. Predators are attracted by motion and many prey animals remain motionless when afraid. What he is describing is commonly called "petrified by fear".

halfway through this, feel compelled to read one of his novels so i can credibly criticize him. the scene where pip throws herself to her knees before Stephen and takes her sweater and bra off and practically begs him to fuck her was so appalling & hilarious. just got to the section with the evil feminist caricature. can't wait to be done

I really don't get the vitriol

xp you're allowed to stop reading

I have not read the book but to me it sounds like Calvinism or Buddhism, to give it an -ism.

its essentially become a meme for ppl who mostly have never read anything hes written except perhaps excerpts im guessing

this is fairly accurate for me, i have to admit. i haven't read any of his books, but i have read several non-fiction pieces by him, and they were witless and dour and unfunny, which is what put me off

and in interviews he seems to be a dickhead too

its essentially become a meme for ppl who mostly have never read anything hes written except perhaps excerpts im guessing

― johnny crunch,

Name them.

I can mutter a mild "yes" when acknowledging that social media can turn against someone too quickly these days, but for a best seller whose novels get automatic Important Novel status he deserves backlash for the facile shit he got away with too easily. Also, I can say, "Franzen is essentially a favorite of people who mostly never read any contemporary fiction."

yea i mean hes not a fav of mine, some backlash is fine, hes clumsy abt plenty of things, but hes a p good fiction writer and ill continue to read him

name who? i just mean the vitrolic vibe. its v much piling on

i think ive said before that his non-fic is terrible imo, & i have ignored it since that how to be alone compilation

what james said. about essays and interviews and dickheadism. and the bits of the novels i have read are always terrible and accidently hilarious. so, the accidental hilarity is a good thing, i guess!

he definitely brings the vitriol out in me. kinda like phish.

Also, I can say, "Franzen is essentially a favorite of people who mostly never read any contemporary fiction."

https://twitter.com/kathrynschulz/status/631557508650242048

agreed that he is a dickhead but disagree that he's a favorite of people who never read contemporary fiction

I don't believe that point either: I was expressing the stereotypical view of Franzen. From working at an indie bookstore at the height of The Corrections mania, I know that everyone bought it, including Iggy Pop.

he's the moby dick of american lit.

so who read Purity and can report?

i've never read anything by him but i find the aggressively negative reactions on twitter pretty annoying

my mom loved The Corrections, reads contemp lit but prob not the hip stuff that person on twitter has in mind when they say contemp lit

Also, I can say, "Radiohead is essentially a favorite of people who mostly never listen to any contemporary music."