I'm currently reading Cormac McCarthy's, The Road. It's depressing, thought-provoking, beautiful, haunting, bleak, powerful, and if you may not want to read it on public transportation because you might shed a tear. This happened to me today. I had to put it down and check out Facebook on my BlackBerry to erase the tear-jerking scene out of my head. It's an amazing book so far, but it really kills you emotionally.
A book I picked up and then put down 200 pages into it was The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. I had heard so many great things about this book: People had labeled it a well-written masterpiece. It was supposed to be full of humor, intelligence, a satire on the state of American families and all the dysfunction that goes along with it.
So after reading about how incredible it was, I decided to pick it up. First of all, the writing is good, good not amazing. It wasn't life-changing or inspiring. It was decent writing. The storyline is non-existent. The premise is: Let's look at this zany, dysfunctional family's one last Christmas together in the house they grew up.
The characters are two-dimensional: They only exist on paper, and when you try to imagine them as real, flesh-and-blood people, you can't, or at least I can't. The protagonist is boring, but it's evident from the first few pages that the reader is not supposed to think that; in fact, it should be just the opposite. You're supposed to think he's really fascinating, with all his quirks and poor judgment. Fools in literature can be fun to read about, but not this one.
The protagonist is written as a severely flawed character. He is a perpetual failure. Unfortunately, there's nothing interesting about him. His antics are tiresome. There are only so many times you can see a character fail over and over again and think that's entertaining.
So, what is everybody reading now? Which books did you love? Which books did you hate?
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