Title: Fox-Franzen Connection
Product review: Having just finished "The Corrections" and "Strong Motion", I listened to Jonathan Franzen's interview on NPR and notched up the volume when he was asked to cite his favorite works of fiction. With utmost trust in his recommendations, I then immediately acquired both of them -Fox's "Desparate Characters" and Christina Stead's "The Man Who Loved Children." "Desparate Characters" is indeed an artfully crafted, exquisitely written novella, and would make an equally artful film or stage play if Annette Benning and Kevin Spacey agreed to work together again as Sophie and Otto. Franzen's worshipful preface, however, embarrassed me for him. Perhaps that's just his way. Ms. Fox's influence on his writing is evident throughout his work and I thank him for helping me discover her voice. My teenage son discovered her voice several years ago, when he read "The Slave Dancer", so readers with adolescent children might want to point them in her direction.
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