Freedom : A Novel Jonathan Franzen - 2 views
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Jim Proctor on 15 Jan 11Zach Holz recommended this book to me before the break, and I heartily pass on his recommendation now that I've finished it. There is a great deal of ecological relevance -- overpopulation, mountaintop removal mining, songbird protection -- in the storyline, but ultimately it is about a family, dysfunctional in basically all ways. Just now mulling over the ending (which I won't spoil), I wonder whether it takes someone as utterly disconnected from humanity as Walter (the dad) was to see the ecological truth of our trivial actions, such as letting cats outdoors? And so, what does this mean for those of us who don't qualify as misanthropes?