11. Crossroads

By Jonathan Franzen (580 pp)

We got this hardcover in one of the free little libraries in our neighborhood. I had it sitting here and I finally read it because it was taking up so much real estate on my shelf. It's set in the 70s and is about this family in the midwest and their relationship with their church. Complex family dynamics and people going through personal crises. It was interesting because it was really easy to read, I zoomed through it but I didn't love the story. The characters were sympathetic but also awful to themselves and each other and kept doing things you didn't want them to do. But the writing is so good and story also felt very real for the time and the subject matter.