Mixed reviews for Jonathan Franzen

In half a dozen long chapters, Franzen sets his characters in the US and Germany, going back and forth through events of the last three decades, from declining East Germany to present-day America. "Purity" deals with contemporary issues such as life in the age of the Internet and the destruction of the environment.

The story is mainly told through large blocs of dialogues. The characters, separately introduced in the first three chapters, collide later on in the novel.

As in "The Corrections" and "Freedom," "Purity" offers a cross section with characters from all walks of life. The plot centers on parent-child relations while also covering neurotic relationships between men and women.

Mixed reviews

Time Magazine writes that "Purity" is clearly "Franzenland." The New York Times claims that Franzen hit "a new octave" with his "most fleet-footed, least self-conscious and most intimate novel yet." The New York Daily News declares the novel to be "about pretty much everything, but doesn't have much to say," adding that, although intelligent and well-written, it "isn't a great American novel." The Guardian underlined the lack of nuance in the portrayal of female characters. The initial reviews in German newspapers are generally positive.