The Corrections

The Corrections is a novel by Jonathan Franzen about an American family pulled in different directions as the twentieth century ends. After nearly fifty years of marriage and raising children, Enid Lambert is ready to enjoy life, but her husband, Alfred, is slipping into the confusion of Parkinson's disease. Their three grown children have scattered. Gary, the eldest, is a portfolio manager and family man who insists he is not depressed. Chip, the middle child, has lost his academic job and is struggling in a new line of work. Denise, the youngest, has left a failed marriage, and her mother worries about the choices she is making now. Determined to have something to look forward to, Enid sets her heart on bringing everyone home for one last family Christmas. By turns comic and sad, the novel explores family, aging and the gap between generations. It won the 2001 National Book Award for Fiction.