Rereading sections of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections I’m instantly teleported into the world of subjective essences and objective observation. It isn’t easy to describe the sense of familiarity and closeness I feel as I absorb the words describing the substances of Franzen’s objects and the emotions of his characters (no, I don’t have a parent battling Parkinson, or a single sibling who’s still looking to find himself even at age 39). It’s his exceptional mastery at burdening otherwise meaningless words with deep meaning that attracts my curiosity and intellectual craving. And he accomplishes that by simply arranging these words in a tonal way in which sequence plays an exceptionally important role. In Franzen’s writing words carry vibrational patterns that light up neuronal pathways connected with the memories of the reader. For example, there is nostalgia in the pages that whooshes and rustles ones hair the moment his or her eyes land on and trace a sentence till its end. Try finding that sensation in the latest #1 best selling thriller.

Inexperienced or casual readers who are only after the wholeness of a story would greatly miss the underlying richness of Franzen’s writing, hence Franzen in my opinion is an acquired taste in the literary world. I recommend The Corrections only to those of you in love with the authority words have on your psyche.