Synopses & Reviews
A
Huffington Post Best Book of the Year
A Kansas City Star Best Book of the Year
Jonathan Franzen's Freedom was the runaway most-discussed novel of 2010, an ambitious and searching engagement with life in America in the twenty-first century. In The New York Times Book Review, Sam Tanenhaus proclaimed it “a masterpiece of American fiction” and lauded its illumination, “through the steady radiance of its authors profound moral intelligence, [of] the world we thought we knew.”
In Farther Away, which gathers together essays and speeches written mostly in the past five years, Franzen returns with renewed vigor to the themes, both human and literary, that have long preoccupied him. Whether recounting his violent encounter with bird poachers in Cyprus, examining his mixed feelings about the suicide of his friend and rival David Foster Wallace, or offering a moving and witty take on the ways that technology has changed how people express their love, these pieces deliver on Franzen's implicit promise to conceal nothing. On a trip to China to see first-hand the environmental devastation there, he doesn't omit mention of his excitement and awe at the pace of China's economic development; the trip becomes a journey out of his own prejudice and moral condemnation. Taken together, these essays trace the progress of unique and mature mind wrestling with itself, with literature, and with some of the most important issues of our day. Farther Away is remarkable, provocative, and necessary.
Review
“Smart, incisive prose that finds deeper societal meaning in almost anything.” USA Today
Review
“[Franzen's] writing has an unshowy, almost egoless perfection.” Lev Grossman, Time
Review
Farther Away is a reminder not only of Franzen's greatness as a sentence-by-sentence writer, but also of how much he cares about literature.” Los Angeles Review of Books
Review
“A multifaceted and revealing collection, Farther Away actually brings the reader closer to the author.” The Economist
Review
“Like the best fiction, Farther Away charts a way out of loneliness.” The Christian Science Monitor
Review
“[Franzens] new collection takes the reader on a closely guided tour of his private concerns...the miscorrelation between merit and fame, the breakdown of a marriage, birds, the waning relevance of the novel in popular culture....Franzen rewards the reader with extended meditations on common phenomena we might otherwise consider unremarkable...the observations [he] makes regarding subjects like cell phone etiquette, the ever-evolving face of modern love and technology are trenchant....With Farther Away, Mr. Franzen demonstrates his ability to dissect the kinds of quotidian concerns that so often evade scrutiny....It may be eight years before he releases his next shimmering novel; in the meantime Mr. Franzen seems intent on keeping the conversation going. Farther Away at least achieves that.” The New York Observer
Review
"The essays in Farther Away are rigorous, artful devotions navigating morally complex topics. At the heart of this collection are the ways ‘engagement with something you love compels you to face up to who you really are.' Collectively, they are a source of authenticity and refuge — a way out of loneliness.” Minneapolis Star Tribune
Review
"[A] collection of thought-provoking, potent essays that rouse a renewed desire to read good books in a culture that is, as Franzen says, marked by its ‘saturation in entertainment.' The texts are both a testament to and an illustration of what attracts people to books — a delicate play between writer, text, character, and reader that prompts excellent questions and provides surprising answers.” The A.V. Club
Review
"This is Franzen at his finest....Narcissism must never be confused with love. This is Franzen's distilled wisdom....He is unflinching about the price of empathy....This is a book for those interested in how to live as well as how to write." London Evening Standard
Review
With Farther Away, Jonathan Franzen has proved once again why his intelligence, empathy, and humor have earned him widespread acclaim — and also why, whether you love him or hate him, we need his voice as a catalyst for literary conversations in the 21st century.” The Rumpus
Review
“One way or another, the essays in Farther Away are attempts to enlarge the place where literature, and the responsiveness to it, can be preserved.” The Guardian
Synopsis
In this incisive collection of speeches and essays, Jonathan Franzen returns with renewed vigor to the themes, both human and literary, that have long preoccupied him. Whether recalling his violent encounter with bird poachers in Cyprus, examining his feelings about the suicide of his friend and rival David Foster Wallace, or offering a moving and witty take on the ways that technology has changed how people express their love, these pieces deliver on Franzen's implicit promise to conceal nothing. A remarkable and revelatory work from one of our greatest living novelists, Farther Away traces the progress of a unique and mature mind wrestling with itself, with literature, and with some of the most important issues of our day.
About the Author
Jonathan Franzen is the author of four novels, a collection of essays (How to Be Alone), a personal history (The Discomfort Zone), and a translation of Frank Wedekinds Spring Awakening. He lives in New York City and Santa Cruz, California.