The Corrections (National Book Award, James Tait Black Prize, ... winner)

The Corrections is a novel by American novelist and essayist Jonathan Franzen (1959- ), published in 2001 and won the National Book Award in 2001 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2002; it was also shortlisted for numerous honors [for more details click here], making it one of the most honored works in recent history.

The Corrections revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwestern couple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-twentieth century to one last Christmas together near the turn of the millennium.


Alfred Lambert, the patriarch of a seemingly normal family living in the fictional town of St. Jude, suffers from Parkinson's disease and dementia. Enid, his long-suffering wife, suffers from Alfred's controlling, rigid behavior and her own embarrassment at what she perceives as her family's shortcomings. Their children all live in the Northeast. Gary, the eldest Lambert son, is a successful banker with clinical depression, caused by his wife and, as a result, becomes suspecting that his sons are conspiring against him. Chip, the middle child, is a brilliant college professor whose disastrous affair with a student sends his life into decline and lands him in the employ of a Lithuanian crime boss. Denise, the youngest of the family, is successful in her career as a chef. Circumstances lead her to become involved with her boss's wife. [1]

[1] Wikipedia.org: The Corrections