Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History

There are 0 reviews and 0 ratings from Australia

W. Birchall

A 'great' American writer?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 September 2015

I read this author on impulse, as I had heard that he had been described as a 'great' American writer. May be I selected the wrong book to determine whether he is or isn't a great writer, but I found him pretentious, unfocused and overly verbose. I do not consider it good writing, to describe something in a way that the reader needs to be constantly referring to a dictionary, in order to understand it. The book was erratic and skipped from one uninteresting subject to another, without any real understanding of what he was trying to achieve. It seemed like a scrapbook of memories, that he thought the reader might be interested in. I was not. The book depicted him as spoiled, wealthy with a puerile sense of humour. A writer, I guess so but, Great, surely not.

Sisyphus

Lyrical, innovative and playful - I will read this again and again

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 January 2014

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Jonathan Franzen became my favourite author after I read "The Corrections" - and read it again and again. The book is so deeply layered and each section so valuable and intertwined with the others that it is a pleasure to reread, but what appeals before all else is Franzen's breathtaking style. In "The Discomfort Zone" he is playful, self-deprecating; he solicits our compassion and makes us cringe and laugh along with his younger self. There were so many great lines and great passages that I took to reading it with a pen in hand to underline things. I would definitely recommend this to any fan of Franzen's work.

One person found this helpful

Julian Preece

A German Scholar

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 April 2020

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The chapter 'The Other Language' is the best account of sex and learning German that I know.

AnnaB

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 December 2015

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Favourite author

ms laj

although generally I love Franzen. Freedom and The Corrections are much better

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 February 2015

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Patchy, although generally I love Franzen. Freedom and The Corrections are much better.

Filomena

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 October 2015

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all good

pat natalini

Two Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 October 2015

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Not the usual Franzen.

Dafni Lappa

Great condition, came with significant delay

Reviewed in Germany on 9 October 2021

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The book's condition corresponds perfectly with its description in the site (it's second hand). It came with a significant 15-day delay - but Ι love Franzen, so it was worth the wait.

P. Bolton

mostly autobiographical

Reviewed in the United States on 25 May 2011

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Ok, I'll start with the disclaimer that I am a Franzen fan.
This is quite different from his earlier collection "How to be alone". The essays in this one are apparently autobiographical and more or less go from his high school years till when his mother dies fifteen or so years later. The later essays, especially the last one, seem to have been written about the time he was either writing Freedom or outlining it as all the themes of Freedom are present. The essay on his participation in Fellowship (no "the") gets to Franzen's attraction to groups and other folks as well as his more or less constant running away from the same. There is also a lot on birds and bird watching and many ruminations on the fate of the earth. Lots of curmudgeonly rants along the way. If you liked Freedom and/or The Corrections you'll like this.

5 people found this helpful

Christiane D Hayward

If you like J Franzen...

Reviewed in the United States on 8 September 2016

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If you,like me, like Jonathan Franzen's crisp prose, profound observance of the world and its inhabitants, and doleful sense of humor, you should read this. What you get with these essays is a deeper look into one of the world's best modern authors. His self assessment are as compelling as his fictional characters. On the other hand the last chapter which is all about bird watching is a little much.

2 people found this helpful

5 star		44%
4 star		29%
3 star		16%
2 star		7%
1 star		4%

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