Gossip Rocks Forum - View Single Post - The Discomfort Zone - Jonathan Franzen

A*O · February 4th, 2008, 01:55 AM

OK - if nobody else is going to take the plunge I'll start.

Obviously the book is autobiographical but I found the first few chapters were written in such a way that I thought he was the narrator in a fictional work. I didn't find it particularly 'comedic' because overall JF takes himself a little too seriously and those endless chunks of German quotes by Goethe and Mann were pure showing off IMO. Yes, we get it, you studied German. Go you. I was also a bit bored with the dissection of his On/Off first marriage. Overall I enjoyed the book - it's a pretty fast and easy read - but I thought it needed some more robust editing and the actual substance wasn't very enlightening really. I'd give it 6/10.

February 4th, 2008, 01:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
A*O Vacuous Gasbag Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: In a lecture theatre near YOU! Posts: 14,536	OK - if nobody else is going to take the plunge I'll start. Obviously the book is autobiographical but I found the first few chapters were written in such a way that I thought he was the narrator in a fictional work. I didn't find it particularly 'comedic' because overall JF takes himself a little too seriously and those endless chunks of German quotes by Goethe and Mann were pure showing off IMO. Yes, we get it, you studied German. Go you. I was also a bit bored with the dissection of his On/Off first marriage. Overall I enjoyed the book - it's a pretty fast and easy read - but I thought it needed some more robust editing and the actual substance wasn't very enlightening really. I'd give it 6/10. __________________ Remember: I OWN you, bitches