Russ’ wife, Marion, wonders if all the sacrifices she made to be a pastor’s wife were worth it. The patriarch, Russ, is a middle-aged associate pastor at a suburban Chicago church, with less-than-pure thoughts about a widowed parishioner in his congregation and a younger rival in the clergy, Rick Ambrose, whose flourishing youth group gives the novel its name. “Crossroads” introduces readers to the Hildebrandt family at the start of the 1970′s. In many ways, this is peak Franzen, with richly created characters, conflicts and plot. It’s also the first of a trilogy called, aspirationally, “The Key to All Mythologies.”īut don’t let all the hype surrounding a Franzen novel overwhelm you before reading. The themes are monumental - from the existence of God to our obligations to family to the morality of war. His newest novel, “Crossroads,” arrives with an audible thud on readers’ doorsteps and will easily hold those doors open at 580 pages.
“Crossroads,” by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) This cover image released by Farrar, Straus and Giroux shows "Crossroads," a novel by Jonathan Franzen.
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