The Millions finds Franzen's 'The Corrections' best of the millennium

The blog The Millions put out a call to a variety of bookish types -- critics and bloggers, authors and editors -- and asked for five top picks for the best novel of the millennium (so far). They've been teasing out the top 20 all week, and today announced that Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections" is No.1.

It's an interesting pick. In 2001, Franzen created a stir by expressing mixed feelings about his novel being an Oprah Book Club pick, after which Oprah closed down her book club for some time. But that isn't top of mind for those who weighed in for this list. "I think many writers ignore the hype around it," says C. Max  Magee, the editor of The Millions, "and appreciate it as a masterful piece of writing."

The immediate runners-up were "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones in second place, "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell in third, "2666" by Roberto Bolaño in fourth and George Saunders' "Pastoralia" in fifth.

The top five show that even with a slightly serendipitous a selection process, a top list can have some range. "The Corrections" is about a family in the contemporary Midwest, "The Known World" set in the Antebellum South, and "Pastoralia" is entirely unreal. "Cloud Atlas" and "2666" are both postmodern, or postmodern-ish, and the latter is a work of translation.

There's a reader poll that sets Junot Diaz's "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" in the top spot. And some backlash has already begun burbling in the Twittersphere about whether or not "The Corrections" deserves the best book of the millennium spot. As for me, I'm not sure, but it makes me want to go back and read the book again. What do you think? 

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Jonathan Franzen. Credit: Greg Martin

Comments

[brian]

best book of the millennium? like anybody could even know that...

[Martha Barnes]

The Corrections is fantastic. Franzen is a literary genious.
I'm hoping that his works become required reading-- more people need to be exposed to the way he creates cracters, describes scenes and builds suspense. Subtle and a punch to the face all at once.

[dean]

I am disheartened that Pynchon's "Against the Day" is not on the list. He writes
circles around most of those who did. Franzen is a DeLillo manque. I'd go with Diaz. It's everything Franzen think's he'd written, twice as wise, verbally inventive, and funnier.

[jad]

Not a bad read, I suppose. But I would guess the only reason anyone would consider it the Book of the Millenium is that that's roughly how long it takes to read it.

[k-sky]

That works for me. I'm not as caught up as I should be with the Big Books of the Aughts, but nothing I've read since The Corrections excited me as much from the sentence to the sweep. It's funny, world-historical, tragic and propulsive. Oscar Wao is a terrific, smart and heartful novel, but Corrections has a kind of high-wire Great Books ambition and IMO pulls it off.

I'm surprised there was consensus around it. Many readers I respect found it smug and obvious.

[Peter Basson]

The whole idea is ridiculous. Great Gatsby was considered an artistic failure for more than twenty years.

The Corrections is an excellent read - I loved it - but to name it 'best' of the millennium so far is absurd. It's only with the passing of time that we can cast judgment on a book's place in the 'pantheon', and even then I'm suspicious.

Infinite Jest, Beloved, Blood Meridian and Underworld are all absent from the Modern Library's 'best' books of the 20th century, which tells you all you need to know about these stupid lists.

Read it, enjoy it for what it is (a great story, beautifully written), and leave it at that.

[Alan]

I agree about The Corrections, but would also add Life of Pi and The Road to the list of contenders.

[Luke Park]

Gilead is the best book of this decade. The Corrections? Not even close.

[Real Talk]

Any such list that doesn't have "The Known World" at the top is ludicrous. Others can wrangle over second place at their leisure.

[Kim]

I'm a bit disappointed with their choice of The Corrections for No. 1. I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't have put it in the top 10. My initial reaction was the same as yours, that I should read it again. But through the day, the more I thought of sitting down with it, the thought becomes increasingly distasteful. It has its atributes, but it doesn't qualify as a re-read for me.

[Ynot?]

"The Corrections" was a good read but, not the best book of the millennium (the idea is almost ridiculous, really). It's not on my :must re-read list" either. I put it down willingly, let's say.

The best book is always your next book, isn't it? It's the discovery of the story while reading it that makes it "the best" (in addition to the way it's written and the story itself).

[Charles]

Shout out for "Gould's Book of Fish", by Richard Flanagan.

[C Lynch]

Please read "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and The Girl Who Played With Fire" By Stieg Larsson, before making your best book decision.

[Peter G]

Just last month I was in New York and talking with this American (I'm a New Zdealander) about good books and I said 'you should read The Corrections, I think its the best book of the millenium so far. Yeah, and these Millions guys have proved my awesomeness. Or rather, I proved theirs.