Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: The End of the End of the Earth

Felicity Isaac

One for bird enthusiasts

Reviewed in Australia on 13 October 2019

Verified Purchase

Very smart, cogent writing as you'd expect from JF.

Helpful

janet gough

Should be on 6th form reading list for every student .

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 December 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a gem,remarkable.

One person found this helpful

Kunde A.

Strangely confused essays

Reviewed in Germany on 18 March 2019

Verified Purchase

Franzen wrote excellent essays years back. Now they seem strangely confused, a unbalanced raw mix of objective information and very personal emotions, unstructured and hard to follow and to interpret. A lack of imagination, wit. Most topics are not of interest to the general (European) reader. Otherwise, a lot on bird watching. But he has written better about his hobby in earlier publications. Quite disappointing.

9 people found this helpful

A Bleak Outlook Tempered by Sound Advice

Reviewed in the United States on 14 November 2018

Verified Purchase

Jonathan Franzen is often caricatured as an angry man. Angry at conservatives for ignoring humankind’s devastation of the planet and angry at liberals for their smug feeling of moral superiority despite few tangible accomplishments.

However, there is very little anger in The End of the End of the Earth. Instead there is, if not despair, at least a bleak feeling of unstoppable loss permeating the text. Franzen devotes relatively few pages to criticizing Trump and his ilk and instead chooses to focus on his practical ethic of small concrete actions that can be done to preserve what is still good.

For Franzen himself, this is largely dedicated to efforts to preserve the world’s avian wildlife. But mixed in with it are portraits of other individuals defying the Facebook image conscious world by making meaningful human relationships, creating photographic portraits which convey a real sense of the person and, defying the omnipresence of Tweets, writing essays like those in this book that go to the pith of the matter.

Lest you harbor any illusions, the end of the end of the earth is not a new hopeful beginning but a description of the environmental havoc being wreaked in Antarctica (which Franzen aptly refers to as the end of the earth). Instead, what Franzen offers the reader is a vision of the need to do concrete good in a world and biosphere constantly falling into greater entropy.

I doubt this vision will much capture the attention of the American public when there are so many more vapid messages being shouted from megaphones. But that doesn’t make it less sincere or less important. If all that we have at the beginning of the twenty-first century is to ground ourselves in the concrete good before a coming ecological catastrophe it is more than a message of unmitigated despair.

Franzen should be commended for not deploying his artistic talent in the service of the left’s agenda but choosing to articulate his unique vision, popular or not. Highly recommended for those who are able to at least sympathize with such a bleak account of our civilization and planet.

57 people found this helpful

Gloria Z. Nagler

Tearjerker essays...

Reviewed in the United States on 15 November 2018

Verified Purchase

Really, I don't know that I've ever before teared up reading essays. I love most of Franzen's writing, and this book exceeds expectations. I feel as though we've been waiting for these essays to help us cope with the horrors of climate change and the accompanying existential crisis. And now that the frigging midterms are over, I can find a nature conservancy group to join. Thank you, Jonathan.

22 people found this helpful

J. Hart

Insightful, Revealing

Reviewed in the United States on 10 December 2018

Verified Purchase

These essays touch all the points not only about writing essays, but the troubles we have to confront. An excellent collection.

6 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Excellent Franzen as usual.

Reviewed in the United States on 7 January 2019

Verified Purchase

Fans of Franzen won't be disappointed. If a true Franzen fan, you may have already read one or two of these in the New Yorker or elsewhere since they are essays, but I didn't mind re-reading.

4 people found this helpful

Frederic Goodman Sanford

Wonderful bedtime and early morning reading, especially for an insomniac like me.

Reviewed in the United States on 28 March 2019

Verified Purchase

I am thoroughly enjoying this book. So beautifully written. Not finished yet, still savoring it.

One person found this helpful

Gina Yowell

Great read

Reviewed in the United States on 6 April 2019

Verified Purchase

Bought as a gift for my father. He read it the first week he got it. I’m looking forward to reading this book soon. Was delivered on time too.

Owen Dimock

You'll learn things to motivate you to DO SOMETHING

Reviewed in the United States on 6 September 2019

Verified Purchase

It's an eye opener to where we are, and it ain't good.

5 star		62%
4 star		22%
3 star		11%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

The End of the End of the Earth

›

Customer reviews

Customer reviews

The End of the End of the Earth

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From Australia

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

From other countries

The End of the End of the Earth › Customer reviews

Customer reviews

The End of the End of the Earth

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From Australia

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

From other countries

The End of the End of the Earth

›

Customer reviews