Readers > Adult & teen lists > If You Liked Freedom
If You Liked Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, You Might Enjoy . . .
BOOK BUZZ:Jonathan Franzen was already winning acclaim for his latest novel even before President Obama chose the book for his vacation reading. Now Franzen has the endorsement of Oprah, who chose Freedom as her latest book club pick. Reviewers are calling the book "darkly comic", "smart, deceptively simple and culturally astute" (Library Journal), and a story that, "exposes the toxic ironies embedded in American middle-class life and reveals just how destructive our muddled notions of entitlement and freedom are..." (Booklist).
Here are some read-alike suggestions for novels similar to Freedom. Check out our blogs and Staff Picks lists for more book, music and movie recommendations.
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Boyle, T.C. -
(1996)Los Angeles liberals Delaney and Kyra lead an ordered middle class existence in their gated hilltop community. Mexican illegals Candido and America are trying to realize their "American Dream" while living a hardscrabble life in a makeshift camp in a ravine. When a freak accident brings Candido and Delaney into intimate contact, their opposing worlds gradually intersect in what becomes "a tragicomedy of error and misunderstanding."
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Coupland, Douglas -
(2001)"The most disastrous family reunion in the history of fiction. The Drummond family descends upon the state of Florida, cutting a swath through Disney World, Cape Canaveral, the swamps and the highways, gathering to watch the launch into space of their beloved daughter and sister, Sarah. What should be a cause for celebration becomes instead the impetus for a series of mishaps and coincidences that place them in constant peril." Booklist
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Haddon, Mark -
(2006)Four damaged people fall apart — and come together — as a family in Haddon's hilarious and disturbing portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely in this follow-up to the international bestseller The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
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Lewis, Sinclair -
(various editions, originally published 1922)Businessman and small-minded hypocrite Babbitt has settled into a life of conformity, concerned only with 'boostering' and keeping up with the neighbors. When he loses his best friend to a prison sentence, Babbitt attempts to escape his relentlessly bourgeoisie life with a little hedonism. Babbitt added a word to the dictionary. Babbitt: "a person and especially a business or professional man who conforms unthinkingly to prevailing middle-class standards".
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Moody, Rick -
(1994)The year is 1973. As a freak winter storm bears down on an exclusive, affluent suburb in Connecticut, cark skid out of control, men and women swap partners, and their children experiment with sex, drugs and even suicide. Here two families, the Hoods and the Williamses, come face-to-face with the seething emotions behind the well-clipped lawns of their lives-in a novel widely hailed as a funny, acerbic and moving hymn to a dazed and confused era of American life.
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Moore, Lorrie -
(2009)Revelling in the novelty of college life and drawn to the charismatic family for whom she is a part-time nanny, Tassie finds herself increasingly alienated from her farming family and a brother who goes off to fight in a war that she doesn't understand.
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Russo, Richard -
(2009)Jack Griffin contemplates his failing marriage and an unsatisfying career as a college professor as he drives towards a weekend rendezvous with his wife in Cape Cod. "Russo lovingly explores the deceptive nature of memory as each exquisitely drawn character attempts to deconstruct the family myths that inform their relationships." Library Journal
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Smith, Zadie -
(2009)Rembrandt scholar and professor Howard Belsey has every reason to be content. The Englishman is married to the charming Kiki and is father to three intelligent and engaged children. Unfortunately, his philandering behavior and lack of connection with his family make his life less than peaceful. When his born-again son Jerome falls in love with the daughter of Howard's arch-rival, the right wing Monty Kipps, a battle over class, race and culture is launched.
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Updike, John -
(various editions, originally published 1960)Updike examines the complexities of American life through the eyes of his character, Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. In the Rabbit novels, he explores the challenge of balancing morality with desire, the drive to achieve one's potential and the consolations of faith and religion.
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Wolfe, Tom -
(various editions, originally published 1987)Wolfe examines the excesses and corruption of New York City, and the uneasy coexistance between members of the ruling class and the underprivileged. "It is safe to predict that the book will stand as a brilliant evocation of New York's class, racial and political structure in the 1980s." Publisher's Weekly
