June 2013: The Twenty-Seventh City

Our Selection for June is The Twenty-Seventh City by Jonathan Franzen. We'll plan to start discussing on or around June 10. My copy is about 500 pages long, so no waiting for the last minute!

I got mine yesterday, and was surprised at the length. Hope to start soon.

The book I thought was this book on my shelf turned out to be a much shorter Franzen book. Time to rummage around for this one. It's around here somewhere...

I had no idea it's this long. Some people have loved it. Many people have hated it.

I started the book today while I sat on the deck eating my lunch. Next thing I knew, I'd come inside and settled in my comfy chair, the lunch dishes had stacked themselves in the sink, I was ready for chapter 5 and it was 3:30!

Reluctantly I put the book down and went back to my desk. I don't know how it will end up, but the beginning sure hooked me in a hurry.

That's good to know, Sandy. It sounds like you had a lovely reading day. I'll probably wait until June to start the book.

Yes, Donna, I did. But I really needed a productive work day today instead!

It's the next one on my stack, so I should be starting it this week. Unless I get sucked into productive work days....

Just curious whether anyone else is working on the book yet. After starting early - 2 weeks ago - I've been trying to pace myself and have about 75 pages left. No guesses yet on where it is going, and so no feeling yet on whether I will like it or not. I'm not loving it, but not hating it either. It will just depend on how he wraps everything up. The downside to taking my time is that I keep forgetting who everyone is - the cast of characters in this book is huge!

I finished last night. Please hurry and up and read it so I'll have someone to talk about it with.

Sandy, I have started it , but it will be a few days before I get it done. It's a tough one to read in bits and pieces which is the only way I can read with three grandkids around. I'm heading home later today.

Yes, it's hard to read in short sittings. I've still got the book here, so I'm not really in any hurry except that it's still fresh in my mind. And I'm anxious to find out what everyone else thinks of it.

I am finished now and ready to discuss. Is anyone else reading this book besides Sandy and me? It took me awhile to get used to the strange premise of an Indian conspiracy in St. Louis but, once I got used to that idea, I got more into the book and ended up liking it more than I thought I would.

I'm sorry, I'm way far behind on it. Between work (unbelievable) and school (I've read 100 pages of Human Resource Management by R. Wayne Mondy!), plus a library book that HAS to go back tomorrow, I'm a mess. I'm taking off work on Friday, so if I get my paper finished, I should be able to put a dent in it!

Carry on without me!

Sorry, but I am not going to get this done anytime soon. Don't wait for me either . . .

Well, then, I'll guess I'll go first. **possible spoiler**

I didn't love the book, but it held my interest enough to finish all 500+ pages. Parts I enjoyed: the descriptive writing, the intricate conspiracy, the local setting. Parts I didn't enjoy: long rambling descriptions that didn't go anywhere, characters who were introduced and then disappeared, the whole kidnapping of Barbara Probst plot.

I commented somewhere that I thought this book would make a good movie - in part because a film version would not include all the characters that are in the book. So my question is, what is the point of introducing dozens of characters only to have them disappear from the narrative somewhere in the middle?

Sandy, that is a good question about introducing and then abandoning characters. I didn't see the point at all. This was Franzen's debut novel so maybe he just got carried away with himself? I did put this "warning" in my review: 'There are way too many characters to keep straight in the book but many are bit players who come and go.' I did like Martin's old school chum, Jack DuChamp, as he added a touch of the "common" man to the cast of St. Louis elite characters.

I actually didn't mind the kidnapping plot, but hated the way it ended. The part that irritated me the most, though, is related and a *BIG SPOILER*. It seemed to me Martin Probst joined forces with S. Jammu way too quickly just to get into her bed. I expected way more from him.

My favorite part? *SPOILERS continue* I loved how we the readers invested all that time absorbing the way the real estate conspiracy was finagled...and then the referendum failed because of voter apathy. Politics hasn't changed much in that respect from the 1980s. *End of Spoilers*

I'm like you, Sandy, I didn't love the book, but I found it interesting once I wrapped my head around a group of Indian terrorists in St. Louis. I give points to Franzen for getting my attention!

**CONTINUING DONNA'S SPOILER** Yeah, I had trouble reconciling the relationship between Jammu and Martin. It didn't seem that either one of them should have been interested in a personal relationship at that point, and I wasn't sure whether the physical consummation actually happened or whether it was just a fantasy of one or the other or both. Somehow, I thought that Jammu was above actually getting involved in the "dirty work" of influencing people to do her bidding. I was never comfortable with her getting that close to Martin. It seemed like a weakness on her part.

**SPOILER CONTINUING** I don't know just what it was about the kidnapping that bothered me. It served its purpose since Martin changed his behavior, but I wasn't convinced that that was Singh's only motivation. What was his real reason? Why didn't he kill Barbara like Jammu instructed? And why did he lie to Barbara? After she was imprisoned, what not tell her the truth?

** I love your point about the readers caring more about the real estate plot than the voters. **END OF SPOILERS**

Have you read anything else by Franzen? Becky, who attempted this book several years ago and then not only abandoned it, but got rid of the book entirely, said that some of the comments I made about this book being rambling and including seemingly pointless characters and discussions might also apply to his Freedom. I'm on the fence about wanting to give him another go.

Okay, I finally finished this and I HATED it. It was a pointless slog, and I didn't think I'd ever finish it. I didn't like any of the characters, nothing that they were doing seemed worth the effort they were putting into it, and I think the only part of it that I liked was the familiarity of some places and events. I did read Freedom several years ago, and I did like it. But I guess because this was earlier, and he hadn't fine-tuned his style, it was really awful to me.

SO glad to be done with it....