Description
Book SynopsisPassionate, independent-minded nonfiction from the international bestselling author of The Corrections'.Jonathan Franzen''s Freedom' was the literary sensation of 2010, whilst The Corrections' was the best-loved and most written-about novel the previous decade. How to be Alone', is a collection of the personal essays and painstaking, often humorous reportage that have earned Franzen a wide and loyal readership, including what has come to be known as ''The Harper''s Essay'', Franzen''s controversial 1996 look at the fate of the novel. From the sex-advice industry to the way a supermax prison works, from his father''s struggle with Alzheimer''s disease to a rueful account of Franzen''s brief tenure as an Oprah Winfrey author, each piece wrestles with Franzen''s familiar themes: the erosion of civic life and private dignity, and the hidden persistence of loneliness, in postmodern imperial America.These collected essays record what Franzen calls ''a movement away from an angry and frighten
Trade Review‘Compelling and invigorating.’
The Times
‘A passionate and compelling piece of work … Each page is studded with irresistible writing which leaves you breathless for more. Franzen’s strength is his ability to combine a rigorous intellectual appraoch with an upbeat energy, using language which touches the heart as surely as the head.’
Time Out
‘Oprah was right. Franzen is conflicted. That’s what makes him a trustworthy, sceptical essayist.’
FT
