I read Purity and it sucked.

>>8189975
He should have adopted that Iraqi like he wanted to.

I thought it was good, OP.

I liked Freedom and The Corrections, but this one dragged.

Purity is my favorite of his novels and my favorite book i've read in years, desu senpai.

franzen power rankings:
Purity
Strong Motion
collected non-fiction/The Discomfort Zone
The Corrections
Freedom
The Krauss Project
Twenty-Seventh City

I met John Franzen at Subway and had to tell him I had never read any of his books. It was awkward for both of us.

>>8190229
You are one of the lucky ones, except for meeting Franzen. What an awful writer.

>>8190229
He posted on /lit/ once and got really mad that everyone was calling him shit without having read him.

>>8190418
Literally any other author would have the same reception.

>>8190418
lol stfu

>>8189975
Purity was the first of his I read. Thought it got caught up with the wrong plot-points (lots of material under-developed /shit could have been cut to make tomm) /was sometimes absurd. Good characters and well structured. I read Freedom. Again, well structured. Better than Purity. Planning on going through The Corrections soon.

He's a solid writer. And his books will be remembered for a long time. It's worth reading him simply because he's your competition (assuming you write/want to be published). He's made money writing things that can actually be called literature. Worth looking into.