Crossroads: A Novel

by Jonathan Franzen

Hardcover, 2021

Status

Available

Publication

Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2021), 592 pages

Description

"It's December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless -- unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem's sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who's been selling drugs to seventh graders, has resolved to be a better person. Each of the Hildebrandts seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate. Jonathan Franzen's novels are celebrated for their unforgettably vivid characters and for their keen-eyed take on contemporary America. Now, in Crossroads, Franzen ventures back into the past and explores the history of two generations. With characteristic humor and complexity, and with even greater warmth, he conjures a world that resonates powerfully with our own. A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, its action largely unfolding on a single winter day, Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis. Jonathan Franzen's gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident."--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member davidroche
I am told that Jonathan Franzen was more likely to have been referencing Edward Casaubon in Middlemarch than ITV’s long-running TV series when naming his new book Crossroads (Fourth Estate). His latest novel, out in October, is set in the Seventies in small town America and lays out the comings
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and goings of a dysfunctional family in a way that Franzen does so well. The Hildebrandt family is made up of Russ and Marion and their four children and there’s midlife crises, drugs, school crushes, parental absurdities and coming of age struggles. Their current flaws are interwoven with their interesting backstories and it’s often hilarious while in parts acutely cringe making. I could not put this down and sailed through its 580 pages loving every minute. It’s apparently the first of a trilogy which is great news and I look forward to finding out what’s next for the Hildebrandts.
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LibraryThing member Castlelass
This is the first book in a trilogy about a dysfunctional American family, the Hildebrandts, in the early 1970s. They are a family of six. Marion, the mom, is a former Catholic who has experienced mental health issues and is secretly going to a therapist. Russ, the dad, is a former Mennonite and
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currently a pastor of a suburban church. He is pursuing Frances, one of his parishoners, while knowing it is wrong and feeling guilty about it. The four children are Clem, Becky, Perry, and Judson. Clem is going to college and decides to give up his scholarship to fight in Vietnam, which leads to a fallout with his father. Becky has found religion and develops a romantic relationship with a rock and roll front man. Perry is a brilliant teen who develops a problem with drugs. Judson is too young to have too many of his own problems, but he watches as his family falls apart. In-depth backstories are provided for each character.

On the plus side, the novel contains deeply drawn believable characters. The 1970s setting is realistic, describing the counterculture, activism, the generation gap, drugs, Vietnam, etc. Crossroads is a Christian youth group, and these scenes are some of most convincing in the book. On the minus side, it is overly long (almost 700 pages). It is a book about "life" and there is not much of a storyline. It is obviously setting up the next book in the series, and the ending leaves a lot up in the air. So, overall, it was a mixed bag for me. I probably will not continue the series, especially if the next book is as long as this one. I liked it more than The Corrections, and I will read another of his works, but I have a feeling this author is not for me.
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LibraryThing member Narshkite
Holy mother this is a complicated book, the closest thing to the great American novel I have read in a very long time (maybe since The Corrections?) and it is going to take some time for me to process it.

I used to know a religion professor, a brilliant and delightful guy, who spent most of his
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waking hours neck deep in Western religion texts. He was an Atheist. The way he talked about religion, the intricacy of the liturgy, the impact of interpretation on history, the connection to philosophical texts that predated various versions of the Christian bible, all without the sparkly eyes of the true believer, changed my understanding of and relation to God and to religion as a part of life (in the macro sense, as it influences the behaviors of most everyone around us, even non-believers.) Reading this book reminded me of those conversations in the best way. I feel challenged and shaken. In all honesty, I want to take a class on this book. I feel like I need someone to shepherd me through parts of it. I imagine if I had a better grounding in Christian theology I would see even more in here, but I got plenty even without that.

On its face this is, like The Corrections, a story of a Midwestern family in the 70's (with other supporting timelines set in the parents' pasts.) In this case we have the Hildebrandt family. The father is Russ, a pastor who is quite sure of his goodness, rightness, and supremacy. The mother, Marion, is a pastor's wife with a deeply buried past. To my mind she is the most interesting and complex of the Hildebrandts. I wanted so much better for her. Russ and Marion have four children. The three eldest children are products of their upbringing, and things are not looking great for them. Russ and Marion and those three children are all at a "crossroads" in the novel, each having their own crises of faith. Not just crises of faith in God, but faith in their family and in all they have been told is right and good. We the reader ride shotgun as the Hildebrandts face their defining moments at these crossroads and do not (I don't think this counts as a spoiler) make great decisions. (The name of the book definitely comes in part from these personal moments of choice, but also there is a Christian teen group called Crossroads that is at the center of a lot of the storylines and Russ is a huge Robert Johnson fan, so we have the specter of Mr. Johnson selling his soul to the devil, and perhaps of some characters doing the same.)

I guess I need to put in a disclaimer here -- I grew up in the 70's in the Midwest, I am roughly the same age as the youngest of the children in the family, a boy whom we don't learn a ton about in this first book of the trilogy, but we know he is watching and absorbing the clusterfuck around him. The reason I say this is a disclaimer is that I hated being a being a child in the Midwest in the 1970's, and I was watching and absorbing the clusterfuck around me (I was also the youngest), and I still have a lot of feelings. I am not great at processing those feelings so they came out strong while I was reading this and affected my review. The pity and the anger and the frustration that ran through me as I read was as sharp and real as if these things were happening to me. Sure, there was some sympathy and some empathy, but most of the feelings were of a less healthy variety. The way Franzen broke things down though, the way the characters reacted to things, refracted my view of my own experiences, things I thought I had figured out years ago. I am not confident Franzen brings more truth to analysis than I did/do on my own, but he certainly gave me some new perspectives, and that is pretty amazing.

So I started out talking about this as a book founded in Christianity, and then moved to this discussion of the product of dysfunctional families who bury what they really feel and that seems inconsistent, but it is not. The dysfunction comes, in part, from trying to live while suffocating under the cloaks of religious community and Midwestern community. These forces create synergies and those synergies are what we see.

Perry, the third Hildebrandt child, and the spark for most of the action in this story (and not in a good way) talks a good deal about how even generosity is self-serving because we are generous in order to make people see us as generous so we can reap the endorphin rush of their adulation. I am not quite as cynical as a screwed up teenager so I am not quite so absolute as Perry, but also, the kid ain't entirely wrong. And living as he does, a preacher's kid in Illinois, it probably is true of most of the generosity he sees around him. One of the hallmarks of a certain kind of Midwestern ethos (I recognize this is not true of all Midwestern families, and I also recognize I am biased by my specific experience) is that things have not occurred and are neither right nor wrong until the neighbors see them and decide if those things make them think less or more of you - it is a weird sort of metaphysical morality, and its not great. So this is where I throw mental illness into the stew of Midwestern passive-aggressive grit/repression and Christian groupthink. Several members of the Hildebrandt family feel the personal impact of mental illness, and all feel its impact on the family. The effects of mental illness (almost certainly there is a genetic predisposition at play) are exacerbated by the repression and groupthink. This comes out in some characters' efforts to make themselves invisible (if you are not seen you cannot be judged), in others as an inability to accept that anything exists if you do not see it, and in other ways as well.

Unrelatedly (kind of), Franzen really shows us how toxic masculinity (something he is sort of expert in) damages the toxic men themselves and that too was really interesting. Yes, there is a lot of stuff about penises, and a little about vaginas (all definitely not written by or proofed by a woman) and some really gross sexual congress, so there is that. But the toxicity material that is interesting to me is how the character's lives and their opportunity for any kind of quenching connection are destroyed by their conscious and unconscious definitions of who they are in the world and in their relationships as a result of their whiteness and their maleness. This is especially true of Russ and the eldest son Clem who are unable to connect to any women in nonsexual ways, even when sexual connection with a female would be completely inappropriate and/or illegal and who march off to do their savior penance with laser-focused self-satisfaction and no broader look at how their actions effect their families or those they have decided they should be saving. That is a part I most need to sit with a bit longer before I discuss it, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I know Franzen is a lightning rod, and he can be an ass, but he is a self-aware lightning rod and ass and he presents these nuanced men who I want to know so much more about even though I have a pretty healthy dislike for many of them based at least in part on those people having characteristics and making choices I suspect come directly from the author. Its complicated. It is also worth mentioning that Franzen has written Marion really beautifully so his insight is not limited to the men.

This is an enduring book, it is a document of a certain type of person and life, a unique story of a group of fleshed out characters, and a meditation of some of the most fundamental moral questions human beings wrestle with. What does it mean to be a good person? To be a bad person? How do we live to honor god or goodness or intellectual coherence or whatever we worship.

A couple endnotes for those with issues with Franzen. I was really glad he didn't talk about birds or climate change for the most part. For those who found Franzen's humor falls flat for them (sometimes I count myself in that group, but mostly I like it in other books) they will be glad to know this is pretty humor free. For those that are bothered by Franzen's dismissal or castigation of religion in other books, this is a religious book, and it is not arch or snarky. The book is deeply respectful of faith and of ethical grappling with existential questions, while also poking at certain rules of the road when it comes to practicing faith as defined by an established church.

So yeah, its pretty great.
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LibraryThing member brianinbuffalo
Don’t get me wrong: Franzen is a literary genius. However, some gutsy editor needs to remind him that very often, “less is more.” Some reviewers have described Franzen’s latest work as “expansive.” I would add that it’s expansive to the point of tedium in some spots. True, it’s an
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intriguing tale that meticulously tracks the adventures of a dysfunctional family. The characters are believable and multi-dimensional. But as some candid critics have stated, it’s simply too long. I’m not sure I’ll be on board for parts two or three of this trilogy.
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LibraryThing member etxgardener
My first 5-star rating of 2022 goes to this new book by Jonathan Franzen, the first volume of a planned trilogy about the Hildebrand family of Chicago. Like most of Franzen’s novels, this family is spectacularly dysfunctional, but unlike most of Franzen’s novels, his usual snarkiness towards
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his characters is largely absent.

Each member of the Hildebrand family is heading towards his or her own personal crisis and the narrative propels the book until one of them totally falls apart and takes the rest of the family along for the ride. Just read it.
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LibraryThing member pgchuis
I'm quitting this at page 160. I was enjoying it to start with, but each chapter so far has been from a different perspective, and not a lot is happening. I have got bogged down in Marion's back story and can't summon up the interest to go on.
LibraryThing member Amniot
Dysfunctional family seen from each of their points of view. The same could be said of The Corrections, but that previous book by Franzen was witty, insightful, surprising, and ultimately satisfying. I found none of that here.
LibraryThing member brangwinn
I found listening to audio book, even with a great narrator, tedious. I failed to have compassion for any of the members of the dysfunctional family.
LibraryThing member AlisonY
I had a very weird experience reading this book. I enjoyed it, yet somehow it seemed to take me absolutely forever to get to the end. No matter how many evenings I spent reading it I somehow never seemed to get much further in terms of page numbers. Maybe it's because it was a hard back and a long
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book anyway (580 or so pages), but boy - it just seemed to go on and on.

Like most of Franzen's fiction, at the heart of Crossroads is a totally dysfunctional family. The patriarch of the family is an associate minister who's failing miserably as a pastor, husband and father and who's desperate to embark on a sexual affair with an old acquaintance who's recently joined the church. His wife is also having a mid-life crisis about the person she's turned into, and is no fool to what's going on with her husband, whilst their teenage children are all rebelling against both of them in different ways.

Told over a short period between Advent and Easter in the early 1970s, Crossroads is a story of the worst of times and the best of times, of losing oneself and of finding oneself. With the backdrop of the church and in particular the popular youth group that runs within the church ('Crossroads'), it's a really interesting setting - a juxtaposition between Christian teaching and human fallibility and immorality.

Despite taking me ages to finish this I did enjoy it. The characters of the minister and his wife were particularly enjoyable, with more than a touch of resemblance to writing by Richard Yates or John Updike.

4 stars - recommended for those who enjoy a good old family implosion.
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LibraryThing member alexrichman
A richly enjoyable read, and a return to form after Purity without quite hitting the heights of The Corrections. I’ve always preferred Franzen’s adult characters to his children, and the same is true here, but the Seventies setting really suits him. I’m already looking forward to the next
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instalment of the planned trilogy.
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LibraryThing member Hccpsk
All I can really say about Jonathan Franzen’s latest book, Crossroads, is too — too long, too religious, too preachy, too Franzen-y. He is unarguably a great writer, but this will be the last book of his I read.
LibraryThing member chasidar
I'm not totally sure how I feel about this book. I listened to the audiobook and it was really long - 25 hours. There were times I wanted to abandon it and then I read that it's set to be a trilogy. Not sure I would've stuck with it had I known. I found the characters to be very unlikable. There
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was nobody who was likable except maybe the youngest son but he's only 9.
But I powered through and I can't say that I didn't like it all in all. I will definitely continue with the trilogy.
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LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
I have read everyone of Franzen's fiction books and I believe that this one is his best. I really enjoyed his take on religion and his characters relationship with God. As one who is not very religious, I found the influence of God into the character's day to day decisions to be outside my
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experience but one that I enjoyed about the novel. The book is set in 1971 in a white affluent suburb of Chicago. The main characters are Russ and Marian with Russ being an associate minister of the church. We get into the head of those 2 plus 3 of their 4 kids. Without givng too much away suffice it to say that this book does a great job dealing with intrafamily relationships while showing us how decision making that includes the lord impacts all decisions.. This is book one of a proposed triliogy by Franzen and I do hope he is able to move forward on this . This on its' own was a great book so I look forward to Franzen building on these characters. If you are into family sagas, then I suggest this book. Franzen is at the height of his powers and this is great introduction to an overhyped author who actually lives up to the hype. He is that good.
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LibraryThing member dawnlovesbooks
Let me start by saying that I adore Jonathan Franzen. He is an amazing writer and I have enjoyed all of his books. Crossroads fell just a little flat for me and I think it may be because the characters to me were mostly unlikable. The reason they are so unlikable is probably because Franzen really
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gets to the ugliest and most unattractive parts of their minds and hearts and really what he says of his characters is probably a good portrayal of humanity. Even though I mostly disliked the characters, I could not read fast enough to find out what was going to happen to them.

Dysfunctional family is my favorite thing to read about. This family really takes the cake in that perspective. I found myself eagerly wanting to find out what each of these crazy and unstable family members were up to next. Franzen touches on many different themes and aspects of life such as faith, morality, selfishness, sibling relationships, and the consequences of the decisions we make.

Another reason that I find myself slightly unsatisfied with this novel might be the fact that it is the first book in a trilogy, therefore it isn't really the end of the story. I will continue to read anything that Franzen writes and will always be awed by the fact that he has written yet another literary masterpiece.
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LibraryThing member oldblack
Yes, I agree with those who say that Franzen is a great writer. This book challenged my view of myself, gave me new insights into my past and continuing inadequacies. It's long, but every page is justified.
LibraryThing member KatyBee
For better or worse, this is a long, fascinating novel of the early 1970's. Chapters rotate from the POV's of 5 of the 6 Hildebrandt family members. It's detailed, introspective, preachy, thought-provoking, head-shaking, funny, sad. Each person develops as a complex individual as backstories are
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revealed. For readers who are willing to give J. Franzen a chance and are interested in a family saga of the time period, it's worth a try. Interesting mix of writing about religion, drug use, family dynamics, and the post-60's.
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LibraryThing member Edwinrelf
This is an absurd piece of writing – a silly novel – by which I mean nonsensical. It is tedious and turgid in its writing. Zero stars. (This is an occasion where Library Thing needs negative stars for the context of this novel to others.) It is not that Franzen cannot write – the second
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chapter is quite intelligent and lyrical – except that he dumbs down his character who is the central one in that chapter. I struggled and had to put this book down several times to read a more coherent novel where there was some sort of human behavioural logic in the plot and the characters interrelationships. But after 300 pages I gave up.

The novel purports to be something serious – perhaps a metaphor of how the United States has become such a failed state which could possibly elect Donald Trump as its president. A trilogy is promised and this is the foundational tome. It would be a good idea to track the growth of the ludicrous US version of evangelical pentecostal Christianity and how it is dumbing down the ‘light on the hill’ vision of a truly democratic humanistic nation. But this novel tumbles badly at such a purpose. A deeply passive aggressive pastor father and his brood of children and a serious mentally disturbed wife are the core characters are metaphors for the US instability. It is impossible to believe that such people make up – on the surface – a thriving happy family. Other reviewers have opined it s a dysfunctional family. I say that with such personalities such a group of characters could never have been functional (real) to have become dys.

At best I could say that behind this is a good idea badly done.
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LibraryThing member browner56
It is the early 1970s and the Hildebrandt family of suburban Chicago is teetering on the brink of a full-blown crisis, although no one seems to know that yet. Russ and Marion, the parents, are increasingly bored with one another and mulling either a divorce or extramarital affairs (which, given
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that Russ is an associate pastor at their church, is not a trivial matter). Clem, the oldest son, is obsessed with Becky, the only daughter, who is herself equal parts vain and naïve. Perry, the middle son, is a manipulative substance abuser, while only the youngest child, Judson, seems well-grounded despite no one else in the family paying him much attention. Adding to this dysfunctional mix is the considerable tension at work, where an upstart younger minister who runs the wildly popular youth group threatens to usurp Russ’ place in the church hierarchy.

Crossroads is Jonathan Franzen’s latest midwestern-family-in-turmoil saga, following on the heels of The Corrections and Freedom, which successfully mined similar veins. The title of this novel is also a clever double entendre as ‘Crossroads’ is the name of the church youth program that is so pivotal to the story as well as an apt metaphor for where the Hildebrandt family finds itself. The tale is a sprawling one, told in alternating sections from the point of view of each family member—except for young Judson, of course—which also creates a somewhat disjointed narrative structure that bounced around considerably from present day events to filling in everyone’s backstory. In the case of Russ and Marion, these flashbacks were quite lengthy and, although useful for context, threatened to bog down the entire effort.

I enjoyed reading Crossroads, but I did not love it as I thought I would. For me, the greatest pleasure came from the author’s sharply observed characterizations of the whole Hildebrandt clan—except for young Judson, of course—as well as his descriptions of some complex family dynamics that felt genuine, for the most part. On the other hand, this acute attention to detail allowed the reader to notice flaws in the story development that became major distractions. Notably, there is no explanation given for Russ’ transition from an idealistic and committed young man to a selfish and self-absorbed middle-aged man. Likewise, it is hard to reconcile how the literally crazy young woman Marion once was could sustain any marriage, stodgy and failing as it is, for a quarter century. Finally, the ending, which updated the strained relationship between Becky and Clem, was quite flat and unsatisfying. So, this is a book I can recommend, but not without some hesitation.
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LibraryThing member rmarcin
1st in trilogy. I read this book for a Literary Fiction Book Club.
Russ is a minister, who has been excluded from the youth group. He is married with 4 children, each with their own issues. Clem leaves for college, Becky is popular, Perry is extremely bright but troubled, and Judson is nerdy
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youngest son. Marion, his wife, feels frumpy and unwanted. She is hiding a secret from Russ. Russ is lusting after a widow in the parish, Frances.
Half the story takes place around Christmas, and what happens to the family over this holiday. It stirs up memories for Russ, and the children all have different experiences that change their lives. The other half of the book leads up to Easter, and preparation for the mission trip to AZ on the Navajo land. It also has flashbacks/memories of their lives, which shaped their secrets and their longings. This book addresses lust, morality, religion, sex, drugs, mental illness, and marital issues. It will be interesting to follow this family through the next 2 books.
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LibraryThing member Bananaman
This is Franzen at his best. I too, look forward to the continuing Hildebrandt saga.
LibraryThing member ibkennedy
Lovely characters. Entirely memorable. A delightful read.
LibraryThing member jpe9
We get to live inside Russ Hildebrandt, the troubled middle-age Protestant minister, his wife Marion who is obsessed with her troubled secret past, and three of their four children, teenagers living through the tumultuous early 70’s. The title has intersecting meanings: the title of that
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important song in the history of Blues, sung and played by the great Robert Johnson; the name of the hip youth group at Russ’s church. And of course the amazing life turning points that all of the members of the Hildebrandt family experience as the narrative suspensefully shifts from one person to the next.

I read this immediately after finishing Ruth Ozeki’s The Book of Form and Emptiness. Both books have a strong concern with ideas of spirituality/religion and mental illness. I couldn’t put either of these books down — they are both so beautifully observed and expressed. But while Ozeki’s book exudes warmth and friendliness towards her readers and her characters, Franzen often seems — in spite of the fact that we’re inside the heads of his characters — more coldly analytical, holding his ideas and characters at arm’s length.
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LibraryThing member AnaraGuard
I was very taken with this sprawling (is there any other kind from Franzen) novel with multiple generations of a family, all striving to be good. Or at least, for goodness, redemption, love. I noted so many pages where the language simply floored me. Other than a few too many erections
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(honestly--could ANY of the male characters have a different response to women??), I highly recommend Crossroads. Franzen says it is the first of a trilogy. We'll see if I have the endurance to try volumes two and three when they emerge.
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LibraryThing member AnaraGuard
Franzen delivers another sweeping, multi-general Midwestern novel, set in the early 70s. Every characters searches for goodness: to feel good, to be good, to figure out how to live a good life. And, being human, they mostly miss the mark. Gorgeous writing. My only quibble is that I tired of every
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male character having erections so often.
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LibraryThing member refice
In Crossroads Franzen does an unremarkable job of developing a book full of unlikeable characters.

The story, set in the early ‘70s, focuses on an assistant pastor’s family and its relationship with the community it serves. Russ Hildebrandt (the minister) and his wife Marion are growing apart as
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Russ eyes a pretty widow and Marion grows bored with her role as pastor’s wife. Their teenaged children – Clem, Becky, and Perry – all act out on their deep sense of rebellion. Russ is entitled; Marion is insipid; Clem is pitiful; Becky is tiresome; and Perry is pompous. (Their youngest child, Judson, is inoffensive, but he barely makes an appearance and is never fleshed out.) Backstories for each character reveal the experiences that shaped them, but still, each one was free to have made different choices along the way, or at least free to not bellyache about the ones they did make.

Franzen’s portrayal of these folks transcends mere flawed characters. These people actually border on ‘bad’. Shouldn’t average readers expect redemptive morality in their spiritual leaders? The Hildebrandt family appears to have none.

The book takes its title from a popular fellowship where young people (and some adults) socialize and seek moral guidance. For me, such a group was completely antithetical to the cynical ‘70s. At that time no ‘cool’ kid would participated in it.

When a book is this long (nearly 600 pages) I tend to become invested in it by the end, even if I haven’t particularly liked it. Not so with Crossroads! The portrayals were so demoralizing that I was glad to close it for the last time!
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