Perfectly Heartless Joey In A Full Of Heart Freedom

In the latest Jonathan Franzen title, Freedom

, the public facades of the characters melt away soon enough. But first we need to go through the existing ones. Walter is conscientious husband and father, who has a morally unimpeachable personality (almost painfully so) and Joey and Jessica are the perfect kids. Things suddenly get bad when the teenage son Joey moved out of the home to live with the neighbors. Patty went into depression, drinks and started writing an autobiography on the advice of her therapist.

She Was Easygoing And In Love

She was an easygoing personality in the college days when she was attracted towards both the perfect Walter and almost wild Richard Katz. He (Richard) treated women with contempt and Patty fell violently for him, only to find that lasting happiness was perhaps possible only with Walter. Some critics, however, were expecting the author to add some more texture to these male characters, which didnt come.

He Only Knew How To Take

The only interesting character is that of Joey, who is perfectly heartless for anyone who knows him (the world gave and he just took) though he surprises people for his deep feelings for a girlfriend. He clearly wants to hold onto power at any cost and this attitude makes his clash with his father inevitable. The novel is voluminous because at many places Walter goes on and on about overpopulation (which was unnecessary).

Emotional Sharpness Never Seen Before

Freedom becomes slightly heavy towards the end when Walter is employed by a company which has been assigned a task of despoiling mountains where poor white people are located. By now, his social commitment takes a cartoonish hue, as he goes on and on about overpopulation and the need to preserve the environment. He is also torn between the submissive girlfriend Lalitha (who is attracted towards Walter for no plausible reason) and his withholding wife Patty. What makes readers come back to Jonathan Franzen for more is not the grand American dream, it is emotional sharpness displayed by the author.

by: Prasoon Kumar

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