"Freedom," by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 562 pp.)
"Freedom," Jonathan Franzen's wide-ranging examination of contemporary America spun around the story of a troubled marriage, is the 800-lb gorilla in this contest. Hailed by some reviewers as brilliant (Sam Tanenhaus of The New York Times dubbed it "a masterpiece of American fiction") while frowned upon by others ("The pages are coated with a film of disdain so thick it almost comes off on your hands," wrote Monitor reviewer Yvonne Zipp), "Freedom" was certainly the year's most talked-about novel. (CSMonitor review, 9/1/10)
