Crossroads, Jonathan Franzen
Crossroads, Jonathan Franzen
16 Rating(s)
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Crossroads
A Novel

Bestseller

Author: Jonathan Franzen

Narrator: David Pittu

Unabridged: 24 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/05/2021


Synopsis

"Narrator David Pittu superbly transports the listener into the lives of the Hildebrandts, a family with many secrets." - AudioFile Magazine

This program includes a bonus conversation between the author, Jonathan Franzen, and the narrator, David Pittu.

Jonathan Franzen’s gift for wedding depth and vividness of character with breadth of social vision has never been more dazzlingly evident than in Crossroads.

It’s December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless—unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem’s sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who’s been selling drugs to seventh graders, has resolved to be a better person. Each of the Hildebrandts seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate.

Jonathan Franzen’s novels are celebrated for their unforgettably vivid characters and for their keen-eyed take on contemporary America. Now, in Crossroads, Franzen ventures back into the past and explores the history of two generations. With characteristic humor and complexity, and with even greater warmth, he conjures a world that resonates powerfully with our own.

A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, its action largely unfolding on a single winter day, Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis. Jonathan Franzen’s gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

About Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen is the author of five novels, including The Corrections, Freedom, and Crossroads, and five works of nonfiction, including Farther Away and The End of the End of the Earth, all published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He lives in Santa Cruz, California.

About David Pittu

David Pittu is a two-time Tony Award nominee, as well as the award-winning narrator of countless audiobooks, ranging in genre from young adult (Scholastic’s 39 Clues series) to spy fiction (Olen Steinhauer’s The Last Tourist and Milo Weaver series) to the contemporary fiction of authors such as Jeffrey Eugenides (The Marriage Plot) and Donna Tartt (The Goldfinch) and many more. Pittu received the Audie Award for Best Male Solo Narration for The Goldfinch, which also received the Audie for Best Literary Fiction. Not only a veteran theater actor, he works regularly in film and television. He lives in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Meike on October 03, 2021

Franzen is still aiming to craft the perfect Great American Novel, and he is just the guy for it: His new trilogy (of which "Crossroads" is only the first part) should probably be read with his infamous essay "Perchance to Dream: In an Age of Images, a Reason to Write Novels" in mind. While dissecti......more

Goodreads review by Andy on January 05, 2023

OMG, too LOOOOOOOONG!!!......more

Goodreads review by Karrie on November 15, 2021

DNF. I want you to know it's okay to not finish a book. Even if you're 22 hours in to a 28 hour book. Even if the book has over 4 stars on Goodreads. Even if this is the Great American Novel. Not every book is for you. And those six hours I saved allowed me to read something good instead. I already......more

Goodreads review by Violet on November 08, 2021

This novel might easily be titled The Lying life of Adults. Like Ferrante's novel it's about a dysfunctional family. For me Ferrante's novel was better, more pressing and incisive, closer to the heart and I began to ask myself if I found it a better novel simply because I'm European and not American......more

Goodreads review by Adam on May 21, 2021

Really loved it, and was surprised by it, and am excited to hear what people think of it. It has its strange moments, and some regressive ones, but also incredible sequences, and the Marion character, specifically, fascinated me. Franzen has a knack for intertwined family novels, and this one, while......more


Awards

  • Time Magazine Best Books of the Year
  • Los Angeles Times Best Books of the Year
  • Amazon.com Best Books of the Year
  • NPR Best Book of the Year
  • The Guardian (UK) Best Books of the Year
  • Los Angeles Times Holiday Books Guide
  • Washington Post Best Books of the Year
  • Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year
  • Vogue Magazine Best Books of the Year
  • California Book Awards Master List
  • Minneapolis Star Tribune Holiday Book Recommendations
  • New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year
  • Seattle Times Best Books of the Year
  • Financial Times Books of the Year
  • Slate Best Books of the Year
  • Oprah.com Best Books of the Year
  • Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year
  • International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award - Nominee
  • Slate Book Review Best Books of the Year
  • USA Today Best Books of the Year