Freedom and War of the Worlds

I read two very different books in the last month or so. The first is Freedom by Johnathan Franzen. He was featured on the cover of Time Magazine last year under the caption "Great American Novelist". Not having read any of his other books, I am not in a position to confirm or refute. What I can say is that Freedom is the best book I have read in about two years. The novel tells the story of a Midwestern couple living in St. Paul, and later in Washington, DC. The story is told from differing vantage points, jumping back into their youth and forward into their dissolution and ultimate reunion. What makes this novel great is Franzen's ability to create such three-dimensional, emotionally rich characters. You really get inside the heads of Patty and Walter Berglund. You see them endure challenging (and at least one nightmarish) relationships in high school and college; you see them try to fit into their gentrifying urban neighborhood as a young married couple; you see them struggle to deal with their rebellious son; you see them drift apart through the years; isolation leads to betrayal, which leads to disintegration. Eventually an equilibrium is reestablished. It is all very real and you cannot look away. I was actually sad that the story came to an end, and after nearly 600 pages, that is saying a lot.

The other book I just finished is War of the Worlds by HG Wells. Everyone knows the story thanks to all the movie versions and variations. However, how many of you have ever actually read the original? The language is a bit archaic. However, there is a lot of fast paced action. Did you know that the Martians fed off of human blood? Pretty awesome stuff. The idea that the Martians would be ultimately felled by bacteria is an elegantly simple concept that hasn't lost its power over 100 years later. There are better books out there that deal with apocalyptic scenarios. War of the Worlds is a classic that I recommend only to SciFi completists. The rest of you can rent the Tom Cruise/Steven Spielberg version or watch Cloverfield.