Crossroads

By: Jonathan Franzen

Narrated by: David Pittu

‘His best novel yet … A Middlemarch-like triumph’ Telegraph‘A pleasure bomb of a novel’ Vogue ‘A true modern master’ Independent

It’s 23 December 1971, and the Hildebrandts are at a crossroads. Fifteen-year-old Perry has resolved to be a better person and quit dealing drugs to seventh graders. His sister Becky, the once straight-laced high school social queen, has veered into counterculture, while at college, Clem is wrestling with a decision that might tear his family apart. As their parents – Russ, a suburban pastor, and Marion, his restless wife – tug against the bonds of a joyless marriage, Crossroads finds a family, and a nation, struggling to do the right thing.

‘Funny, moving, crackling with life, it has what all great fiction should have’ Financial Times

‘Intoxicating – a luxuriant domestic drama’ Guardian

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A GUARDIAN BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2021 • AN INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR • A WHITE REVIEW BOOK OF THE YEAR • A LIT HUB BOOK OF THE YEAR

©2021 Jonathan Franzen (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Compelling

Franzen brings the characters vividly to life in this penetrating portrayal of a dysfunctional family set against the social and cultural upheaval of the 1970s.

Great

Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! I don’t want to write unique words. Please update the review system, thanks.

Beautifully written but not compelling.

This is very well written of course but the characters left me cold. All of them.
In fact, they're all a bit bonkers. And not in a fun way.
And as for God, I understand why He is inserted into everything but it's so tedious.
And apparently, this is the beginning of a trilogy! At the risk of falling into that trap, God save us.
I hung in there for 23 hours....couldn't be bothered finishing.