Episode 3: The Corrections

In this episode, Erin, Alex, and Eric are joined by the novelist Emily Gould to discuss Jonathan Franzen’s third novel—and Mr. Difficult-consensus best book—The Corrections. In the novel, published days before 9/11, Franzen finally puts it all together: a biting satire of the 1990s, the book is, at heart, a funny, moving, and sometimes scabrous account of a family in turmoil at the turn of the century.

About Mr. Difficult

How did Jonathan Franzen become America’s most divisive novelist? Is he even good? And what’s the deal with his relationship with birds, anyway? Mr. Difficult is a podcast devoted to exploring these and many other questions related to this great American novelist. (Or is it the great American novelist?) Join co-hosts Erin Somers and Alex Shephard and producer Eric Jett as they discuss each of Franzen’s six novels, as well as his nonfiction.