The Corrections

The corrections (english The Corrections ) is the third novel by the American writer Jonathan Franzen. He appeared in September 2001 and helped its author an international breakthrough. From literary critics, the novel was mostly positive, some enthusiastically discussed. He brought its author the National Book Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN / Faulkner Award. With 2.85 million copies sold (as of 2010 ) the book was a popular success. The German edition appeared in 2002.

Content

The novel is divided into seven chapters (St. Jew - The Failure - The more he thought about it, the angrier he became - At Sea - The Generator - One last Christmas - The corrections). He portrays the Lambert family, who in the second half of the 20th century in the fictional town of St. Jew in the Midwestern United States lives. The frame story is supported by Enid Lambert's efforts, in the face of rapid physical and mental deterioration of her husband Alfred to gather the three adult children Denise, Gary and chip to possibly last Christmas together in his parents' home. The book is dedicated to each of the three children their own storyline: The middle son chip loses his job because of an affair with a student as a professor of literature. After he failed to earn his living as a screenwriter in New York, he gets involved in criminal activity in Lithuania. Gary is a successful banker, however, suffers from depression and his manipulative wife, who forges alliances against him with their three children. Denise, the youngest, runs the kitchen of a top restaurant in Philadelphia, but loses this position, as her boss and his wife find out that she had an affair with each of them. On Christmas Day the storylines eventually converge in St. Jew. A brief epilogue informs the reader about the events then up to Alfred's death.