The Corrections
Like bookends of the past half century, the two generations of the Lambert family represent two very different aspects of America. Alfred, the patriarch, is a distant, puritanical company man; he is also slipping into Parkinson's-induced dementia. His wife, Enid, is a model Midwestern housewife, at once deferential and controlling. Their three children--Gary, an uptight banker, baffled by his own persistent unhappiness; Chip, and ex-professor now failing as a screenwriter; and Denise, and up-and-coming chief in a hot new restaurant--have little time for Enid and Alfred. But when Enid calls for one last Christmas at the family home, the trajectories of five American lifetimes converge. With this important, profoundly affecting work, Jonathan Franzen confirms his place in the top tier of American novelists. His unique blend of subversive humor and full-blooded realism makes The Corrections a grandly entertaining family saga.
Where The Corrections keeps showing up
Two of our editors' lists feature this novel.
What you might want to know about The Corrections
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Enid Lambert wants her three grown children, Gary, Chip, and Denise, home for one last Christmas in St. Jude before her husband Alfred's Parkinson's gets worse. Each of the kids has built a separate, leaking adult life.
Yes. The Corrections won the 2001 National Book Award for Fiction. Jonathan Franzen has since written Freedom (2010), Purity (2015), and Crossroads (2021).
Yes, originally. Oprah selected The Corrections for her book club in 2001, then withdrew the invitation after Jonathan Franzen made comments she considered dismissive of her readers. They later reconciled.
The Corrections was written by Jonathan Franzen, published in 2001 by Picador USA.
The Corrections is 582 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Corrections takes most readers 9 to 13 hours to finish.
The Corrections is a standalone novel by Jonathan Franzen, not part of a series.
The Corrections is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
