Book Review - Crossroads - Jonathan Franzen
The Hildebrandt’s
The Hildebrandt family live in New Prospect, Illinois, and ‘crossroads’ joins them just before Christmas 1971. There’s Russ, the patriarch of the family and an associate pastor with the First reformed church, who is having major doubts about his marriage, and is conspiring to spend as much time as possible with another female parishioner. His wife Marian is holding things together but has more secrets than any other members of the family. Eldest son Clem is at college, enjoying the freedom but is due home and has some major news of his own to break. Daughter Becky, high school queen and previously fairly straight living, has started to tap into the counterculture of the times, whilst troubled, younger brother Perry, with his high IQ, is starting to go off the rails. There’s also Judson, the youngest member of the clan, who we do meet but as the book alternates between the viewpoints of the other members of the family, we don’t get to hear what he thinks. As ‘Crossroads’ is purported to be the first of a trilogy, I suspect that will change.
Corrections
When I was checking this book out, the librarian mentioned that she’d read ‘Corrections’ years ago. Me too, I replied, it’s the only one of his I’ve read. I’m not sure why that is, to be honest. Sometimes when I see an author described as a colossus of American literature, most likely to write the ‘Great American novel’ it’s not that I get intimidated, it’s more that I don’t want to read a book that’s ‘worthy’ or ‘mature.’ I tend to think, ah sure I’ll read that when I get a bit older.
And maybe this book is both mature and worthy, but it is also damned funny and incredibly readable. Despite weighing in at 580 pages, I never tired of spending time with these characters. I found them warm and engaging company and the alternating viewpoints works so well and prevents you tiring of their voices.
The first mention of ‘Crossroads’ comes early on, with a reference to Robert Johnson, which is where he is supposed to have sold his soul to the devil in return for his musical gifts. The characters here too are at crossroads in their lives and their relationships with God. Each member of the family is at the centre of their own moral crisis and this conflict is where the book gets most of it’s drive.
Marian
My favourite character was Marian, and her flashbacks are at times both darkly comic and tragic. She believes she is inherently not a good person and is being suitably punished for previous mistakes. Both Perry and Becky wonder what it is to be good - Perry believes he only does good to make himself feel better, whilst Becky, praying after engaging in behaviour that she perceives as 'evil’, gets occasional glimpses of goodness within her. and wonders if this is where God is to be found. Russ, humiliated by the Rick Ambrose, the messianic youth paster around whom the kids now flock, harbours hate in his heart and wrestles with his relationship to God.
I have heard some book reviewers complaining about Jonathan Franzen’s elaborate, florid writing style but it wasn’t something that annoyed me. I found the writing in ‘crossroads’ to be precise and sharp, with a beautiful flow to the sentences. And he writes dialogue and internal thoughts so well. It’s a long time since I’ve read a book that explores and represents the dynamics within each family so well.
Jonathan Franzen never judges his characters - he just writes about them, their choices and their actions. The Hildebrandt feel all too real, and although there is the larger backdrop of the Vietnam war and the ever changing America of the 1970’s, it’s their internal lives and choices which were completely fascinating to me.
Crossroads Summary
There’s a lot in this book - religion, sibling relationships, coming of age, infidelity, church - and I’ve left just as many themes out. It’s impossible to get bored by this book. Give me book two already.
I loved ‘crossroads’ and am already looking forward to the next two instalments and spending more time with the Hildebrandts.
Book review - Crossroads by Jonathan Frantzen
592 pages, Hardcover
October 5, 2021 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux