Editors Reads Verdict
Franzen's warmest and most sympathetic novel — the shift from contemporary satire to historical family fiction allows him to be generous with his characters in ways his previous books resisted. The best Franzen since The Corrections.
What We Loved
- The 1971 setting removes Franzen from the terrain of contemporary cultural satire and allows him to be genuinely compassionate
- Each family member is rendered as a full moral consciousness rather than a social type
- The religious life of the family — a minister's family navigating faith authentically — is handled with unusual seriousness
Minor Drawbacks
- At 592 pages, even sympathetic readers may find the pace slow
- The first volume of a trilogy — the ending does not fully resolve
- Some readers find Franzen's voice inescapably recognisable in ways that impose a sameness on the characters
Key Takeaways
- → Religious faith is a practical activity, not a doctrinal position — it is enacted or it is not
- → Families transmit both their pathologies and their capacities for love simultaneously
- → 1971 is a hinge year in American history — the specific moment when certain post-war certainties became untenable
| Author | Jonathan Franzen |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| Pages | 592 |
| Published | October 5, 2021 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction, Family |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Readers of The Corrections and Freedom ready for Franzen at his most historically grounded and most generous. |
The Hildebrandts of New Prospect
The Hildebrandt family lives in a Chicago suburb in 1971. Russ, the father, is associate minister at a church whose popular youth group, Crossroads, is led by a younger, charismatic minister whom Russ resents. Marion, the mother, carries a secret about her past that the novel slowly reveals. Their four children — Clem, Becky, Perry, and Judson — are each at different stages of the specific crises that 1971 provides: the draft, psychedelics, sexuality, the counterculture.
The novel takes place over a week in December, moving between the family members in chapters that give each their own distinct interiority.
Franzen in a New Key
Crossroads represents a significant formal shift for Franzen. His earlier novels — The Corrections, Freedom, Purity — used the American family as a vehicle for cultural critique, sometimes with an edge of satirical contempt for their subjects. Crossroads moves to historical fiction and allows Franzen to be genuinely sympathetic: these are people he clearly loves, rendered with warmth as well as precision.
The religious material is handled with unusual seriousness. Russ’s faith — complicated, competitive, genuine — is treated as a real thing rather than a social performance. The intersection of personal crisis and spiritual life that characterises the novel’s adults is as well-observed as anything in Franzen’s body of work.
Our rating: 4.1/5 — Franzen’s warmest novel and the best start to an ambitious historical project.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Crossroads" about?
The Hildebrandt family — a suburban Chicago minister, his unhappy wife, and their four children — navigate a single December day and week in 1971 in the first volume of a planned trilogy.
Who should read "Crossroads"?
Readers of The Corrections and Freedom ready for Franzen at his most historically grounded and most generous.
What are the key takeaways from "Crossroads"?
Religious faith is a practical activity, not a doctrinal position — it is enacted or it is not Families transmit both their pathologies and their capacities for love simultaneously 1971 is a hinge year in American history — the specific moment when certain post-war certainties became untenable
Is "Crossroads" worth reading?
Franzen's warmest and most sympathetic novel — the shift from contemporary satire to historical family fiction allows him to be generous with his characters in ways his previous books resisted. The best Franzen since The Corrections.
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