Crossroads
A Novel
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Crossroads
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Narrated by:
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David Pittu
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Written by:
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Jonathan Franzen
About this listen
"Narrator David Pittu superbly transports the listener into the lives of the Hildebrandts, a family with many secrets." - AudioFile Magazine
This program includes a bonus conversation between the author, Jonathan Franzen, and the narrator, David Pittu.
Jonathan Franzen’s gift for wedding depth and vividness of character with breadth of social vision has never been more dazzlingly evident than in Crossroads.
It’s December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless—unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem’s sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who’s been selling drugs to seventh graders, has resolved to be a better person. Each of the Hildebrandts seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate.
Jonathan Franzen’s novels are celebrated for their unforgettably vivid characters and for their keen-eyed take on contemporary America. Now, in Crossroads, Franzen ventures back into the past and explores the history of two generations. With characteristic humor and complexity, and with even greater warmth, he conjures a world that resonates powerfully with our own.
A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, its action largely unfolding on a single winter day, Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis. Jonathan Franzen’s gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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What listeners say about Crossroads
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Emilie Anne
- 2021-10-13
My new favorite Franzen
This book is reminiscent of The Corrections as the story takes place in the weeks leading up to Christmastime and features the interrelated lives of the Hildebrandt family members. The author’s ability to succinctly tangent into tunnels of descriptive language that reveal the inner workings of each character is what makes this another great Franzen novel to enjoy more than once.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Nancy
- 2022-02-18
So well written
Good read/listen but The Corrections is still my favorite. Definitely worth a listen! Incredible character development.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sandra Brown
- 2022-11-17
A vivid and compelling portrayal of the 70’s.
Fantastic book. I loved all the compelling, rich characters who were lovely, annoying, ridiculous, tragic, confusing and hilarious. I especially enjoyed hearing their back stories. I was transported back to my teenage years in the 70’s being a part of a similar church youth group. Franzen captured the time so vividly. This is an excellent book club read, especially
for people of a certain vintage.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Randi
- 2024-12-09
Can’t wait for the next book!
I started reading this when it first came out and got stuck around 1/4 way in. Given that Freedom and Purity are two of my favourite novels, I was frustrated. I just completed by listening and was assisted by the excellent performance of the reader who maintained momentum and character beautifully. Secrets, desires, ambition, envy, obsessions and the flawed nature of decision-making under the influence of the above emotions make for a powerfully dysfunctional, yet laudable story of family, social hierarchy, personal lust and faith. I adore the work of Franzen. He is a magician.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Evangaline
- 2022-02-28
10 hours listening to this and want my time back.
So I managed to get through about 10 hours of this before I couldn't stand listening to it anymore. I started thinking that there are a lot of great books out there and life is too short to spend it listening to any more of this one. I know this sounds extreme, but that thought actually crossed my mind.
It started with the author's inability to accurately capture the time frame he was writing about. People did not talk this way in 1971. He did not capture the mannerisms, the way people related to each other or the expressions they used in conversation. Somehow he managed to portray the clothing styles, but that is easy because there are photos. Maybe it was because the author was only 11 years old at the time so he had no frame of reference.
Anyway, just a couple of examples in an endless stream of boo boos that some editor ought to have picked up. People did not punctuate their written sentances with "dot smiley face". That is from text messaging. No cellphones in 1971. When characters relate something in what would then be called a Jesus Freak Circle, although the author is unaware of that, they were thanked for "sharing". Nope. No one said that. They rapped. And if is was something negative then that "was a bummer man" . The woman who worked on Sharon's farm was from Croatia. Really? Croatia was not a country in 1971. It was part of Yugoslavia and would be for another 20 years. These errors are constant and hard to overlook. They just jolt you out of the story being told.
What really caused me to give up on this, was the author's failure to develop female characters beyond stereotypes. Becky who is a young woman of 18 is portrayed with the maturity level of a 13 year old. Her mother is a train wreck straight out the of Rolling Stones' "Mother's Little Helper". It was is the middle of her 19th Nervous Breakdown that I decided to find something better to read.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Adam Lintaman
- 2022-07-20
Robotic narration
This was ok. The narration was very flat and monotone and doesn’t capture the humour of the writing.
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