Review of How to be Alone: essays by Jonathan Franzen
The book How to be Alone: essays by Jonathan Franzen is, as the title indicates, a
collection of essays written by the author from 1994 to 2002. The topics of the essays
range from the intensely personal “My Father’s Brain” recounting his father’s struggle
with and eventual death from Alzheimer’s disease to the objective observations of
“Imperial Bedroom” in which Franzen muses that instead of Americans losing their
privacy as is frequently discussed in the media, that because of modern technology,
Americans are more anonymous than ever before and that the loss has been in respect and
dignity in the public sphere.
The essays cover a multitude of topics. The author does a very good job of adapting his
style to the needs of the material he is discussing. He easily transitions from a first
person, informal style in “My Father’s Brain” while discussing his father’s death to a first
and third person style with a more formal voice as the observer of society while
discussing personal privacy or disconnectedness contrasted with the need for public areas
in which people can interact in a formalized manner with accepted public manners in
“Imperial Bedroom”. “Why Bother?” discusses whether serious novelists still have a
purpose in these days of instant news in an intensely personal style that discusses his own
depression and inability to work while trying to find a reason to continue as a serious
commentator on the society around him. “Lost in the Mail” is a more formal and
objective discussion of the American Postal Service (specifically in Chicago) and how
the Post Office is the symbol of the American government. “Erika Imports” is a very
personal recollection of Franzen’s teenage job and how intertwined it was with his family
situation. This essay again uses the less formal first person style similar to the first essay
in this collection. “Sifting the Ashes” is a discussion of smoking, the cigarette industry
and the legal war against the cigarette industry in a technical and objective style with the
occasional intrusion of the author’s personal history and personal opinions. “The Reader
in Exile” explores much the same themes as “Why Bother”, the loss of readers in the
digital age. Franzen spends much time attempting to justify reading in an age where most
people are turning to television and other media for entertainment. This essay includes a
formal and technical voice and style interspersed with sections of more personal
observations. “First City” discusses New York City, both its history and its current feel.
This essay also reflects what is becoming a common style in these essays, the switching
back and forth from the technical, historical recitation of facts about the history of New
York City interspersed with the author’s less formal personal observations and feelings.
“Scavenging” is a more personal, less formal discussion of the author’s seeking value in
things that have discarded and how that search relates to the overall society. The author’s
voice in this essay is closer to the personal, less formal style of the other essays based on
the author’s recollections of his personal life. “Control Units” is a description of
Franzen’s visit to the Federal Correctional Complex in Colorado. The style is mostly
impersonal and factual, describing the conditions and the author’s visit without much of
Franzen’s personal opinions and viewpoint.
There are four more essays in this book, but the general technique and style that
the author uses throughout the entire book can be seen in the essays discussed above.
The author suits his style to the material; from an informal, intensely personal style to a
factual, objective observational style. The author also intersperses these two styles within
a single essay at times going from factual recitation to his personal viewpoints.