In Brief:
When we think back on this season in this year will we remember the books, the songs, the finals of the U.S. Open (or even one elegant, astronomically improbable shot hit between Federer's knees)? Jesse Kornbluth praised Jonathan Franzen's heartbreaking Freedom, and provided one excerpt, one being enough to prompt a rush to buy. Franzen describes a kind of ending, one that could be called very American, being a cycle of violence, love, renewal and hope. I can't tell you what it really is/ I can only tell you what it feels like/ And right now there's a steel knife/ In my windpipe/ I can't breathe/ But I still fight/ While I can fight/ As long as the wrong feels right/ It's like I'm in flight/ High of a love/ Drunk from the hate/ It's like I'm huffing paint/ And I love it the more that I suffer/ I sufficate/ And right before I'm/ about to drown/ She resuscitates me/ She fucking hates me/ And I love it/ Wait/ Where you going/ I'm leaving you/ No you ain't/Come back/ We're running right back/ Here we go again/ It's so insane/ Cause when it's going good/ It's going great/ I'm Superman/ With the wind in his bag/ She's Lois Lane/ But when it's bad/ It's awful/ I feel so ashamed. Franzen's Freedom might (as Frank Rich pointed out) tell us more about our lives now than any speech on any given night on C-SPAN.
