#10 in Contemporary fiction
The Corrections
- 582
- Pages
- about 11 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Corrections” is a large, unsparing family novel whose people are hard to like and harder to look away from. It follows ageing Midwestern parents and their three grown children to a final Christmas together; its real subject is self-deception. At close to six hundred pages some readers find it a slog, though one that repays the effort. Best for those happy to recognise themselves in unflattering company.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Corrections is a 2001 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen. It revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-20th century to "one last Christmas" together near the turn of the millennium. The novel was awarded the National Book Award in 2001 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2002.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.8 across 384 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 72% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Contemporary fiction average of 7.7. That is how 7.7 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.9 | 33 | 9% |
| Google Books | 8.0 | 47 | 12% |
| Hardcover | 7.7 | 304 | 79% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Corrections?
It has 582 pages — longer than 90% of the ranked books in Contemporary fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Contemporary fiction — with scores between 7.2 and 8.2, closest to this book.
