“For Franzen’s characters, too much freedom is an empty, dangerously entropic thing. After all, energy companies are free to ravage and poison the breeding grounds of the cerulean warbler. If Patty and Walter divorced, they would be free, but its a freedom they would do almost anything to avoid… And no one is freer than a person with no moral beliefs. ‘One of the ways of surrendering freedom is to actually have convictions,’ Franzen says. ‘And a way of further surrendering freedom is to spend quite a bit of time acting on those convictions.’

“…There is something beyond freedom that people need: work, love, belief in something, commitment to something. Freedom is not enough. It’s necessary but not sufficient. It’s what you do with freedom–what you give it up for–that matters.”

Anyone else intrigued? Check back in a few weeks and we can share our thoughts. Meanwhile, happy reading!