[lindylanka]

Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections........

I did.... it was cleverly written, but so reductive in it's portrayal of a PwP, in which the effects of the disease seemed to play a starring role......

He is in the Time magazine now, and hailed for this and his new book as one of the greatest writers........ I just hate the idea of PwP being stereotyped to this. I cannot think of another disease that has been portrayed in this way, and feel that if this had been AD then somebody big like Terry Pratchett may have spoken out.

I am no book burner, and stand for freedom of speech all the way, but wouldn't give this book even to a good friend.......

If I have missed something in this, I'd love to be told what......

Lindy

[pkell]

I hated it totally and completely, especially the horrid picture drawn of the father.

I would never have shared it with anyone. Thank you for hating it too.
PK

[indigogo]

I haven't read it, but I will now - sounds interesting, and it sure has garnered a lot of attention and awards - and strong emotion from you guys!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corrections

[Conductor71]

Lindy,

This has long been on my list of must read books and am headed to the library in just a few, so now must check it out.

It is funny that you mention AD...Franzen's dad, according to all interviews and public record, did indeed have AD, not PD. I wonder if he chose PD for the novel as a way to distance himself for some reason?

Odd. I am now most curious to read it and will have to research why he changed his father's illness in the novel.

Thanks!

Laura

P.S. Will have a high res pic to you tonight!

[pkell]

Laura and Carey,
Please let me revise my review.

I found the book tedius and boring in a labored and verbose manner. Largely a tale of a family in the throes of disfunction.

I would hate to think my hyperbolic first reaction encouraged anyone to read it.

Pam

ps Or perhaps I simply could not let go of the visual images long enough to evaluate the book without bias.

[GregD]

In todays world of anagrams and abbreviations I can't keep up with half of them. What is AD?

GregD

[pkell]

Alzheimers Disease

[lindylanka]

This book has the most graphically disturbing portrait of a disabled person I have read, it is not sympathetic either.

I truly believe if it had been Altzheimers that someone like Terry Pratchett, who is very liberal minded and has AD (Sorry Greg, did not mean to confuse, just save the problem of misspelling about 5 times a word I once knew how to spell) would have come out criticized the portrayal.

When I bought this book last year I did so in all innocence! It disappeared out of the 3 for 2 offers in my local bookshop for a while but last week was back again, costing less (£4), and synchronized with the article by Time magazine, and another in the Guardian, clearly to hike sales in the wake of the author's newer book.

Sometimes the blurb talks about the 'well-loved', or 'much loved' novel, and it's author is described in rich terms too........... I hate to think of this book as holiday reading for the masses, and another layer of prejudice and stereotyping being put into place for PD.

I am an avid reader, and rarely find things that I cannot stomach, but this one seems close to breaking the disability discrimination laws herein the UK, even though they were not even remotely designed for the purpose of controlling novel writers.

If this person has displaced a personal experience of AD onto PD, then he shows no sympathy whatsoever for the individual, and in the final passages leaves him to the mercy of a very disaffected, almost vindictive carer........

As Pam says it is very hard to let go of the visual images, if it is hard for us, how deep will they go into other peoples minds and set back the much broader picture of Parkinson's that people have been working to bring to the attention of the public.

[Bob Dawson]

Originally Posted by lindylanka

This book has the most graphically disturbing portrait of a disabled person I have read, it is not sympathetic either.
...
As Pam says it is very hard to let go of the visual images, if it is hard for us, how deep will they go into other peoples minds and set back the much broader picture of Parkinson's that people have been working to bring to the attention of the public.

I think one effect PD has on me is that I cannot stomach scenes of ugliness and inhumanity and neglect and cruelty; and I hunger and thirst to see beauty and kindness. I will turn off a movie or throw out a book if it starts to show me how rotten life and people can be. I don't need to know that. I have seen that already. I am quite capable of conjuring up my own demons and depressions without assistance from the movie-making or book publishing empires.
In theater they talk about "the suspension of disbelief". I am not sure what that means; but before PD or maybe it is before old age, I could watch blood and gore and slaughter and misery on the screen and it was all fantasyland. Now, it's all too real, and I have seen enough of it. I need to see stuff or read stuff that helps keep that old spirit feeling that life is worthwhile. I do not like ugly and nasty; I like Beauty in all its endless forms; and I like to be carried upward; not buried in helplessness and despair. I don't think that is hard to understand, but the art critics and journalists and trend-setters of our day generally promote anything that corresponds with their own lack of faith in mankind. If it bleeds, it leads.
It is easy to write about hate and fear; it is very hard to write about love.

[indigogo]

from the NYTimes yesterday; review of Franzen's new book, Freedom

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/bo...franzen&st=cse

Also from the Times, mention of the Time Magazine cover story of Franzen
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...franzen&st=cse