Line #32 Literature/TheCorrections


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_corrections.jpg]]
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3	->''"If Creator/JohnIrving and Tom Wolfe stopped bickering about how to write the UsefulNotes/GreatAmericanNovel long enough to sit down and tap one out together, they'd probably end up with something a little like Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections" -- only not as good."''
4	-->-- '''Benjamin Svetki''', ''Entertainment Weekly'' [[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,174059,00.html review]]
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6	''The Corrections'' is a 2001 novel written by Creator/JonathanFranzen.
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8	Enid Lambert, a mother and {{housewife}} for fifty years, wants to get her entire family together for one last, really ''nice'' Christmas together in their [[EverytownAmerica childhood home, the Midwest town of St. Jude]]. Together with her [[TheStoic cold, introverted husband Alfred]] (who's falling deeper into Parkinson's disease), she begins a year-long-campaign to persuade her children to come visit, including Gary, a man whose paranoia and vicious denial of his crumbling mental health is only matched by his wife's passive-aggression; Denise, who [[LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces approaches her relationship with two parts fatalism and one part well-meaning cluelessness]]; and Chip, a CasanovaWannabe whose life got turned upside down when he was fired for an affair with a 19-year-old student.
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10	There have been various attempts to adapt this novel, either as a film or a television series (but the 2011 pilot has yet to picked up by anyone).
11
12	!!Contains examples of:
13	* AccidentalMisnaming: While she's on a cruise, Enid visits the ship's doctor. During a relatively brief conversation, he calls her Elaine, Edna, Elinor, Edwina, Edith, Andie, Edie and Eden.
14	%%* BigScrewedUpFamily: '''Yes'''
15	* CallingTheOldManOut: Every single sibling has tried this with their parents, [[SelectiveObliviousness to little or no success]].
16	* CloserToEarth: Played straight ''and'' deconstructed with both Enid and Denise. Most other women [[AvertedTrope avert]] this entirely.
17	* CreatorBreakdown: In-universe. Chip tries to write a screenplay to get back at Melissa and the school board for firing him. The result? See StylisticSuck.
18	%%* DysfunctionJunction
19	* FanDisservice: See HotForStudent. And that's just the first example.
20	* {{Gayngst}}: [[spoiler: Denise]] suffers some before becoming adjusted to her sexuality.
21	* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Brian cheating on Robin is bad, Robin cheating on Brian is good [[spoiler: believes Denise]].
22	* HandsOffParenting: Caroline believes in this, much to Gary's chagrin.
23	%%* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: [[spoiler: Denise]]
24	* HumiliationConga: Chip's life after his disastrous affair with Melissa in the first half of the book is essentially this.
25	%%* IAmNotMyFather
26	* LoopholeAbuse: [[spoiler: Turns out Denise was AboveTheInfluence when it came to married men. Married women, on the other hand...]]
27	* MoralGuardian: Enid ''is'' distilled Middle America.
28	* TheNineties
29	%%* OnlySaneMan: "Sane" is a bit of stretch, but of all the kids, Denise comes off as being the most well adjusted.
30	%%* SanitySlippage: Poor [[spoiler: Alfred]]...
31	* SelectiveObliviousness: To say that all of these characters are living in denial of both themselves and the people around them is a gross, gross understatement.
32	%%* SexlessMarriage: Enid and Alfred
33	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Gary isn't depressed, by the way.
34	%%* StylisticSuck: Chip's screenplay.
35	* TalkingPoo: During the cruise, Alfred has a hallucination where a talking piece of feces appears and insults him.
36	* TeacherStudentRomance: Chip is pursued by his nineteen-year-old student Melissa, a girl with one or two StalkerWithACrush tendencies.
37	* TitleDrop: Gets dropped in reference to something different in each section.
38	* WhamEpisode: Once at the end of every part, but [[spoiler: the end of Albert and Enid's cruise, especially]].

Context Literature / TheCorrections