NORTHERN PLANNER

I'm nearing the end of this, which is making me rather sad, in the way that you want to find out the resolution, but you don't want the experience to end. 

I think I liked it more than The Corrections, maybe because there was less weight of expectation around 'The Great American Novel" cliche (despite the fact I think it's a Greater American Novel), beautifully realised characters, relevance in so many ways. Wonderful.

Real books and real writers, as Franzen suggests himself fall into one of two camps. Art for arts sake, you know, difficult books, almost a chore to read, because literature isn't supposed to be ENJOYED, it's supposed to challenge you. Or the other kind that believes you can make a book challenging, make people think AND enjoyable and absorbing.

This book is the latter. It's virtually perfect, and sometimes searing in what it is implying, but immensely compelling and, well, it makes you feel something. It makes you forget you're reading, whicb is a skill very few writers posess.