The Corrections turns 25

Twenty-five years since The Corrections. The novel first, then the three Franzens that came after it, in the order that makes the case.

4 titles

1. The Corrections (2001), Jonathan Franzen
   Twenty-five this year. The Lambert family, still the 2001 novel people mean when they say the American novel: one last Christmas in St. Jude, five people who cannot fix each other, and a book that is funnier than its reputation.
2. Freedom (2010), Jonathan Franzen
   The one after: the Berglunds, a marriage, and a bird. If The Corrections got you, this is the same wound from a different angle.
3. Crossroads (2021), Jonathan Franzen
   A 1971 pastor and his family, each one lying about God. Warmer than the earlier books, and many people's favorite.
4. Purity (2015), Jonathan Franzen
   The strange one: a leaker, a Bolivian compound, a girl named Pip. Read it last, and read it for the middle section.