Crossroads | Jonathan Franzen

Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different member of the Hildebrandt family (except Judson, who is a young child). Russ and Marion's marriage is falling apart. Russ is the minister of the local First Reformed Church. He is unsatisfied with his job, his marriage and his life in general. A new member joins the congregation, France Cottrell, and Russ becomes obsessed with her; he decides that she is the answer to all of his frustrations. He eventually sleeps with Frances, during a trip with the church's group, Crossroads. At the same time his son Perry, suffers a psychotic breakdown.

Marion, like her husband Russ, is disappointed with the way her life has turned out. She reminisces about an affair she had with a married man in Los Angeles, which was followed by her own psychotic breakdown just before she met Russ. In the second part of the book, Marion goes on holiday to California, on the pretext of taking Judson to Disneyland and visiting her sick uncle. In reality, she has arranged to meet Bradley, the married man with whom she had an affair decades earlier. It is during this trip that Perry has his breakdown and Marion blames herself for passing on her family's bad genes.

Perry joins Crossroads, the popular youth group founded by Russ, but now led by the charismatic Rick Ambrose. Perry is addicted to smoking pot, and is also selling it on the side. He vows to stop and become a better person, the first step being to join Cossroads with his sister Becky. By the second part of the book, "Easter", Perry has developed a cocaine addiction, which leads to his breakdown and subsequent hospitalisation. Perry's breakdown, which coincides with Russ's infidelity, leads Russ to repair his relationship with Marion, and by the end of the book they have moved to a new city with a better job and more help for Perry, whose hosptal bills have left the family in huge debt.

The Hildebrandt's daughter, Becky, is a popular cheerleader who has a very close relationship with her brother, Clem. She initially joins Crossroads after being urged to by Tanner Evans, the aspiring musician and most popular boy in the group. She has doubts about her faith, but has her own religious awakening later in the book. In "Easter", Becky and Tanner go on a road trip to Europe where Becky becomes pregnant. They return to New Prospect, but Becky has become estranged from her parents due to Becky's disappointment at their focus on Perry at the expense of their other three children.

The eldest of the Hildebrandt children is Clem. He goes to college where he meets his first girlfriend and experiences a sexual awakening. He decides to end the relationship, drop out of college and go off to fight in Vietnam. His draft is rejected and Clem ends up in Peru, working as a labourer on his friend's family farm. His relationship with Becky has soured due to Clem's disappointment with her life choices. They are reunited at the end of the book when Clem returns to New Prospect.

My Verdict: I have been a fan of Franzen's writing for many years now. This is a big book with many themes to unravel and understand. Religion is a central theme, with each character undergoing a test of faith. Love is another central theme, as is forgiveness, or, for some characters, the inability to forgive. It's a book full of the disappointments people experience in life, and it's not a particularly uplifting book with a positive message. It is also not a book where all of the loose ends are tied up at the end. A bit like real life, where things generally do not end with a Happy Ever After. I liked the book, but it wasn't Franzen's best, in my opinion. But he is definitely an interesting writer whose work I always look forward to reading.

Review Award | 3.5/5