The Discomfort Zone by Jonathan Franzen

If Jonathan Franzen's name sounds familiar to you, it might be because his novel The Corrections was briefly part of Oprah's book club in 2001, only to be taken off the list when he was quoted in an interview as saying that he was uncomfortable with his book being part of the club. Even without Oprah backing his novel, The Corrections was still a best-seller.

Since I enjoyed The Corrections so much, I thought I would give some of his other books a try. I read a collection of his essays called How To Be Alone and loved it, which led me recently to his memoir The Discomfort Zone. I was not disappointed.

I love memoirs, especially ones that are written by interesting, quirky people. Franzen and his tales of growing up are, like most human stories, funny and sad. This memoir deals with his childhood, of course, and that portion is entertaining as he writes about awkward and embarrassing situations. But what I got more out of in the book were the parts of his adult life that were difficult, including the end of his marriage and the death of his mother. I think human beings are curious about how others deal with the stresses and traumas of life, so I eagerly read the passages about dealing with grief and recuperating after the end of a serious relationship.

By the end, Franzen seems to have gotten through the worst part of his troubles and enters into a part of his life when he is mostly alone. Alone, except for birdwatching. "Then my mother died, and I went out birdwatching for the first time in my life," he writes. Initially, I thought "Birdwatching? Really?" But it was a great insight into how he coped with being alone and used the birdwatching as a window into human relations. It was even humorous to read about the way he saw so many human characteristics in the birds and the way they interacted.

Overall, Franzen's memoir is the story of an average guy with what might be considered an average life, but the way he weaves the unexpected into the story is satisfying. It was even a little random sometimes, but given the fact that life is random, I grew to appreciate this quality. The memoir has the elements of most memoirs: growing up, love, learning, and death. But you will also find a lot of substance and his humor in the middle, like the travel stories, bits about global warming, and Franzen finding his way through college.

www.jonathanfranzen.com
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