About the Author

Jonathan Franzen is the author of novels such as The Corrections (2001), Freedom (2010), and Crossroads (2021), and works of nonfiction, including Farther Away (2012) and The End of the End of the Earth (2018), all published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He lives in Santa Cruz, California.

Reviews

"Lovely, lyrical, and precise . . . What The Discomfort Zone resembles, in fact, is an old-fashioned diorama in a museum, displaying the airborne author at each stage of this evolution." --James Marcus, Los Angeles Times "Funny, masterfully composed . . . For those eagerly awaiting his Corrections follow-up, this will help get you through the night." --Gregory Kirschling, Entertainment Weekly "Jonathan Franzen's contribution to the genre is so expertly shaped . . . so genuinely, organically thought-provoking, that I wish I could yank it off the shelf where it will inevitably sit with the autobiographical writing of other hip authors." --Adam Begley, The New York Observer "If it were possible to calculate the frequency of mots justes in a piece of prose, Franzen's ranking would be through the roof." --Lev Grossman, Time "At once elegiac and unsentimental, mournful and joyful. . . . The most intimate glimpse into the author's interior life." --Dan Cryer, The Boston Globe "The sub subtext of these essays--that Franzen is Franzen, a flat-out brilliant writer and wickedly incisive observer--strips away much of the self-effacement that coats the surface." --Arthur Salm, The San Diego Union-Tribune "A brilliantly talented writer, Franzen is more aware than most Americans of the ironies of individuality and citizenship. There are many moments here that bring together the individual and group experience of being American." --Michael Sims, BookPage "With comic verve, Franzen lays out his neuroses and his gullibility to the cultural moment he inhabited. He nails the essence of adolescence itself." --Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times "For those who admire the razor-sharp jabs Franzen akes at himself and anyone else standing too close, The Discomfort Zone is both a delicious read and a clever showcase for Franzen's talents." --Marjorie Kehe, The Christian Science Monitor "Quirky, funny, poignant, self-deprecating, and ultimately wise." --Kirkus Reviews "Franzen has a talent for seamless transitions and for weaving together multiple lines of thought. . . . About as good a summary as I've read of the times we live in." --Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today

Adult/High School-In this entertaining portrait of the artist as a young geek, Franzen is as offhand about his geekdom and failures as he is about his talents and successes. He retraces his childhood resistance to his parents' way of life as he became a rebel in his own cause. He confesses that he has become a bird-watcher as an adult; he is like an interesting variety of one of the birds that he enjoys finding. Even while describing his personal oddities and those in the people around him, he finds awkward beauty in their quirks and imperfections. The book begins and ends with the death of his mother. Their difficult relationship is one of many he examines. He is a human watcher willing to report in detail on behavior, whether that of his parents, loved ones, or himself. As he studies who he has been and who he is now, Franzen discovers truths about the world around him. This is a world in which many teens find themselves, and seeing the ways the author navigates and survives can entertain and comfort while offering assistance in the process of self-discovery.-Will Marston, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

National Book Award-winner Franzen's first foray into memoir begins and ends with his mother's death in Franzen's adulthood. In between, he takes a sarcastic, humorous and intimate look at the painful awkwardness of adolescence. As a young observer rather than a participant, Franzen offers a fresh take on the sometimes tumultuous, sometimes uneventful America of the 1960s and '70s. A not very popular, bookish kid, Franzen (The Corrections) and his high school buddies, in one of the book's most memorable episodes, attempt to loop a tire, ring-toss-style, over their school's 40-foot flag pole as part of a series of flailing pranks. Franzen watches his older brother storm out of the house toward a wayward hippe life, while he ultimately follows along his father's straight-and-narrow path. Franzen traces back to his teenage years the roots of his enduring trouble with women, his pursuit of a precarious career as a writer and his recent life-affirming obsession with bird-watching. While Franzen's family was unmarked by significant tragedy, the common yet painful contradictions of growing up are at the heart of this wonderful book (parts of which appeared in the New Yorker): "You're miserable and ashamed if you don't believe your adolescent troubles matter, but you're stupid if you do." (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

"Lovely, lyrical, and precise . . . What The Discomfort Zone resembles, in fact, is an old-fashioned diorama in a museum, displaying the airborne author at each stage of this evolution." --James Marcus, Los Angeles Times "Funny, masterfully composed . . . For those eagerly awaiting his Corrections follow-up, this will help get you through the night." --Gregory Kirschling, Entertainment Weekly "Jonathan Franzen's contribution to the genre is so expertly shaped . . . so genuinely, organically thought-provoking, that I wish I could yank it off the shelf where it will inevitably sit with the autobiographical writing of other hip authors." --Adam Begley, The New York Observer "If it were possible to calculate the frequency of mots justes in a piece of prose, Franzen's ranking would be through the roof." --Lev Grossman, Time "At once elegiac and unsentimental, mournful and joyful. . . . The most intimate glimpse into the author's interior life." --Dan Cryer, The Boston Globe "The sub subtext of these essays--that Franzen is Franzen, a flat-out brilliant writer and wickedly incisive observer--strips away much of the self-effacement that coats the surface." --Arthur Salm, The San Diego Union-Tribune "A brilliantly talented writer, Franzen is more aware than most Americans of the ironies of individuality and citizenship. There are many moments here that bring together the individual and group experience of being American." --Michael Sims, BookPage "With comic verve, Franzen lays out his neuroses and his gullibility to the cultural moment he inhabited. He nails the essence of adolescence itself." --Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times "For those who admire the razor-sharp jabs Franzen akes at himself and anyone else standing too close, The Discomfort Zone is both a delicious read and a clever showcase for Franzen's talents." --Marjorie Kehe, The Christian Science Monitor "Quirky, funny, poignant, self-deprecating, and ultimately wise." --Kirkus Reviews "Franzen has a talent for seamless transitions and for weaving together multiple lines of thought. . . . About as good a summary as I've read of the times we live in." --Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today