Forget what the Atlantic critic wrote about Freedom: that the characters are uninteresting and clichéd, that the prose is puerile. It's not true. Maybe those critics recognize the pathos of their own lives while reading Franzen. Quiet lives of desperation. Great literature exposes the truth about human nature. It makes us uncomfortable. Most people don't get to realize their dreams, are victims of circumstance or simply make bad choices. Franzen cuts through all this in Freedom and it hits home hard. That's what great writing is all about. And if the critic finds his prose and characters too common for his taste, think about Henry Miller's language and Robert Russo's characters. Sounds to me like the Atlantic critic has an axe to grind with the today's writers when he questions why we should even bother reading them, when we can read the classics. Well, if I have to choose between reading a classic like Pride and Prejudice or Freedom, I'll choose the latter. And so will millions of others...
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2010/10/smaller-than-life/8212/
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