The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History

Ok, I'll start with the disclaimer that I am a Franzen fan.This is quite different from his earlier collection "How to be alone". The essays in this one are apparently autobiographical and more or less go from his high school years till when his mother dies fifteen or so years later. The later essays, especially the last one, seem to have been written about the time he was either writing Freedom or outlining it as all the themes of Freedom are present. The essay on his participation in Fellowship (no "the") gets to Franzen's attraction to groups and other folks as well as his more or less constant running away from the same. There is also a lot on birds and bird watching and many ruminations on the fate of the earth. Lots of curmudgeonly rants along the way. If you liked Freedom and/or The Corrections you'll like this.

If you,like me, like Jonathan Franzen's crisp prose, profound observance of the world and its inhabitants, and doleful sense of humor, you should read this. What you get with these essays is a deeper look into one of the world's best modern authors. His self assessment are as compelling as his fictional characters. On the other hand the last chapter which is all about bird watching is a little much.

In "Freedom" and "The corrections" the author exposes strong models of life, whom are apted to superate the failure in economics of 2008 in according to Obama policy, considering the recent optimisme of experts as Krugman and Stiglitz.This particular analysis of those questions proposes for Usa socialistic forms whom are in fact a new opportunity for the people.In "The discomfort zone" Franzen talks about little particulars of his life, as the religious traditions, the bird-watching, which is a great passion for him, the history of love as young.It is an other immagine of this author, less formal and more related to the family and the friends.

An alarming book...At times it was so personal, going so much into intimate and embarrassing details that I had a feeling as if I was peeping into somebody's most hidden private life, as if I had no right to be there. The title is really true: it takes you into a discomfort zone...

If you loved the corrections and freedom this book sheds some light on the authors background and really makes the other two books feel connected. Written in the same witty, smart, quick sense of humor and prose. Great read.

I started this book, but must admit that I could not finish it. I found it to be mundane and not at all very revealing of the personalities of the characters involved. I must also say that I found it terribly biased toward the "born again Christian" outlook on life. By the time I shut down my Kindle and left this piece of tripe for good, I had the attitude of "Who cares whether Mr. Franzen fits into his little Christian click or not." Better he gets a broader view of American life.I would not recommend this book to anyone.

I find a lot of hope in Jonathan Franzen's personal history. I love the complexity of his writing, essays and fiction. There is a really nice humanness to him that he is willing to share. When I'm finished with one book I find myself looking to see if there is anything more I can read by him. Reading his books has become a compulsion.

It took me a very long time to get through this short read. I normally love Franzen, but found this so boring and hard to get through, especially the end. I agree with another reviewer that the bird-watching chapter is too much, and there really was no ending. I skimmed the last 20 pages because I couldn't stand it.

I read this author on impulse, as I had heard that he had been described as a 'great' American writer. May be I selected the wrong book to determine whether he is or isn't a great writer, but I found him pretentious, unfocused and overly verbose. I do not consider it good writing, to describe something in a way that the reader needs to be constantly referring to a dictionary, in order to understand it. The book was erratic and skipped from one uninteresting subject to another, without any real understanding of what he was trying to achieve. It seemed like a scrapbook of memories, that he thought the reader might be interested in. I was not. The book depicted him as spoiled, wealthy with a puerile sense of humour. A writer, I guess so but, Great, surely not.

Jonathan Franzen became my favourite author after I read "The Corrections" - and read it again and again. The book is so deeply layered and each section so valuable and intertwined with the others that it is a pleasure to reread, but what appeals before all else is Franzen's breathtaking style. In "The Discomfort Zone" he is playful, self-deprecating; he solicits our compassion and makes us cringe and laugh along with his younger self. There were so many great lines and great passages that I took to reading it with a pen in hand to underline things. I would definitely recommend this to any fan of Franzen's work.

The chapter 'The Other Language' is the best account of sex and learning German that I know.

Patchy, although generally I love Franzen. Freedom and The Corrections are much better.

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