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Crossroads

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Crossroads

By: Jonathan Franzen
Narrated by: David Pittu
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About this listen

‘His best novel yet … A Middlemarch-like triumph’ Telegraph‘A pleasure bomb of a novel’ Vogue ‘A true modern master’ Independent

It’s 23 December 1971, and the Hildebrandts are at a crossroads. Fifteen-year-old Perry has resolved to be a better person and quit dealing drugs to seventh graders. His sister Becky, the once straight-laced high school social queen, has veered into counterculture, while at college, Clem is wrestling with a decision that might tear his family apart. As their parents – Russ, a suburban pastor, and Marion, his restless wife – tug against the bonds of a joyless marriage, Crossroads finds a family, and a nation, struggling to do the right thing.

‘Funny, moving, crackling with life, it has what all great fiction should have’ Financial Times

‘Intoxicating – a luxuriant domestic drama’ Guardian

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A GUARDIAN BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2021 • AN INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR • A WHITE REVIEW BOOK OF THE YEAR • A LIT HUB BOOK OF THE YEAR

©2021 Jonathan Franzen (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Marriage Thought-Provoking Inspiring

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All stars
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Franzen is a genius - this book has entered my soul. Cannot bear to say goodbye to these characters and I hope he’s got a sequel up his sleeve!

Wonderful, powerful book

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The characters are extraordinarily dissected, flawed and sympathetic (mostly). only criticism is the length, some parts too extended, painful but perhaps that's the author's intent.

Thoroughly recommended

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Best narration I’ve ever heard. Might start searching for more books he’s read. The book itself is good too, obviously.

Incredible narrator

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This was very good.

Here’s some more words to get me up to the eleven required to leave a review.

Yes

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A tale of family. excited to know it's #1 in a trilogy. don't listen if you like fast paced eventful stories. Franzen is not for you. I however always really enjoy his work.

Franzen does it again.

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By now these people feel like real people in my life. At times the momentum makes you want to cover your eyes, a more practical approach with the audiobook. If this is a trilogy I hope the next isn't too long a wait.

I'm breathless.

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Very clever story telling, lad paints amazing pictures and you are in no doubt of the characters, you feel you know them, they are real... the story just ambles and would probably feel slow and pointless to a lot of people or a younger version of myself but I will definitely go back and read his others... it will end up on a lot of lists this book, 100 greatest whatevers...

no start, no middle, no end but solid story

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This is absolutely brilliant. I can’t wait for more. Just genius writing. A towering achievement.

Wow!

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I’ve just discovered Jonathan Franzen & wasn’t at all disappointed.Loved this book, I’m a big fan of Anne Tyler & feel he writes in a similar way.
I’m definitely going to read his other books.

Great book & great writer.

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I read this one across the physical book and Audible, it being so good and there not being enough hours in the day to devour it in print at the desired speed.

The brilliant reading adds a dimension that brought it to life for me in new ways. The reader is very accomplished in voicing such a broad cast of characters and interpreting the text - he got under its skin convincingly and with great dramatic effect as well as humour. Franzen's wit is accentuated by the skilled delivery and I'm not sure I've ever appreciated what an incredible wit he is. Laugh out loud funny. (I am that crazy-looking dog-walker whom people hope is tuned into something.)

Crossroads is an ambitious and beautiful book. As in all Franzen's work, there is a level of rigour that wears itself so lightly, you rarely discern the writer behind his creation. Characters, time- and landscapes are alive and immediate (and as an Irish reader aged four at the time of the book's setting, it's fair to say I don't have many cultural cues in reserve). He never moves from the character's point of view, and how he manages to inhabit so fully so many skins is to me a wonder and what makes him the world-class writer he is.

I'll be thinking about this book for days: its unexpected turns, its portrayal of the complexities of being human, its offering of magical transformation from brokenness. Or not.

Its inspection of the experience of God as a basis for faith is fascinating, aligned also with the experience of sex.

Ultimately, its characters came to rest in my heart, at times reminding me of things I couldn't put words on but felt as familiar as an old cardigan. Each player is in some way at a crossroads in their lives, and as a family unit, in an era that has seen rapid and immense social change. Their transformations range from troubling to empowering to still-in-motion, and I can't wait to see where the future takes them.

A book to bring you to your knees

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