Freedom

By Sebastian Junger

A profound rumination on the concept of freedom from the bestselling author of The Perfect Storm

'Sebastian Junger bears witness to a hard-won and an uncertain new world, framed in vital and brilliant prose: a true and honest accounting of everything that underlies the frantic performance of life’ Philip Hoare, author of Albert and the Whale

Throughout history, humans have been driven by the quest for two cherished ideals: community and freedom. The two don’t coexist easily: we value individuality and self-reliance, yet are utterly dependent on community for our most basic needs. In this intricately crafted and thought-provoking book, Sebastian Junger examines this tension that lies at the heart of what it means to be human.

For much of a year, Junger and three friends—a conflict photographer and two Afghan war vets—walked the railroad lines of the east coast. It was an experiment in personal autonomy, but also in interdependence. Dodging railroad cops, sleeping under bridges, cooking over fires and drinking from creeks and rivers, the four men forged a unique reliance on one another.

In Freedom, Junger weaves his account of this journey together with primatology and boxing strategy, the role of women in resistance movements and apache renegrades, and the brutal reality of life on the Pennsylvania frontier. Written in exquisite, razor-sharp prose, the result is a powerful examination of the primary desire that defines us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: May 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9780008421830

Sebastian Junger

Sebastian Junger is the New York Times bestselling author of Tribe, War, Freedom, A Death in Belmont, Fire, and The Perfect Storm, and codirector of the documentary film Restrepo, which was nominated for an Academy Award. He is also the winner of a Peabody Award and the National Magazine Award for Reporting.

Reviews for Freedom

[maryc22_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With all the press on this book, I wanted to read it, but was prepared not to like it. What a surprise to find Freedom was well written with a storyline that just pulled me right along. The characters were compelling and so unlike anything I've come across I had to continue reading to find out what was going to happen next! One frustrating thing was the layout, Franzen wrote the book in long sections instead of chapters and this made it hard to find a stopping place. I have to say, when I came to the end and closed the book I was very satisfied. Worth the time.

[nbarman_5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A quiet masterpiece.

[doondeck · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well written and great character development. But this was a story I could not buy into. Every character is so blatantly flawed.

[jheady1021 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I normally read through books really quickly, but this one took me awhile to get through. I enjoyed the first part of the book immensely and then towards the middle, the storyline slowed down for me. I took a break from it and read a few other books and was easily able to get back into when I started it up again. The ending was a little disappointing. It should have ended with Patty's letter. Overall, I thought it was a good book, i don't think it lived up to all of the hype (It doesn't suck you in like a Jodi Picoult novel), but it was a decent read.

[alphawoman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sometimes slow, sometimes you wanted to reach in and smack one of the characters but a great read.

[pennyanne_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book but couldn't muster up similarly positive feelings for any of the characters! Franzen writes about the choices we make and the mistakes we have to live with, he writes about love and loss and he does it all in a way that keeps the pages turning. I don't think he is the 'great American novelist of his generation' but he is miles ahead of Jonathan Safran Foer whose name also gets tossed around for the title.

[jennifyr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jonathan Franzen is an excellent character writer,he develops these people who are so lifelike, so true, that you grow to love them, hate them, and feel that they are actually out there, somewhere. There are times in the novel where there was out of nowhere, seemingly needless sexuality. I'm not especially prudish at all, but there were maybe 4 or 5 times in the book where I rolled my eyes at the random outburst of vulgarity, and only because it was so out of context. I let it slide though, because I told myself that it was all in the name of character building. I add it here, just in case there are some out there who are turned off completely by that sort of thing, and would prefer to know ahead of time about this, because like I said, it seems to come completely out of left field, mostly in the chapters dedicated to Joey. All in all, I believe this book lives up to the hype, and is a nice chunk of book to sink your teeth into, with characters that you grow to know very well.

[maryhollis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book received so many rave reviews that I really can't add anything except to say that it did deserve every word of praise.

[xiaomarlo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It ended up being a much larger, more sprawling story than I'd anticipated at the outset. I haven't read The Corrections (yet), so this was my first taste of Franzen. The characterizations are masterful, his wit is biting and often hilarious, and I did feel all the emotional turmoil of each character. I also feel like more of an adult, somehow, having read it. Very few books engross me and, I think, change me the way this one did.

[dhann2911 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I lived with the Berglunds for a week and a half this year. Who are they? Walter and Patty Berglund are the protaganists of the novel Freedom by author Jonathen Franzen. Freed om is the story of Patty and Walter's marriage during the late 90s early 200s. So many things about this book i loved. The structure is clever. You meet the Berglunds neighbors in St. Paul first and through the neighbor's eyes begin to really dislike the Berglunds. then when you get comfortable Patty's voice emerges with her autobiography written in the third person. THEN when you settle down and think you have a handle on things another voice emerges, and so it goes. Franzen is so talented he can change the meaning of a paragraph not just with one word he can do it with a single letter capitalized. I cannot recomend this book enough.

[justinefrances · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was an intense read (and rather crude--just a forewarning). Franzen's novel is focused heavily on character development from several vantage points which makes it very intimate. It also made it very difficult to read, however, since the characters are continually failing in both life and especially love. Overall, Franzen did a wonderful job of creating very vivid characters that radiate a very sober truth--but if you're feeling depressed, I would NOT pick up this book yet.

[chrisconway_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I find Franzen compulsively readable. This novel was very hard for me to put down. Franzen tends to be cruel to his characters, but I found surprising moments of compassion and insight into modern marriage and life today in the U.S.

[klburnside · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I kept going back and forth on my rating of this book. I loved the beginning. The charaters and writing were interesting and the cultural commentary amusing. Towards the middle of the book, I just got annoyed. The political rants of one of the characters drove me crazy, not because of the content but because of the tone. I almost had to put the book down. However, by the end, everything came together and for the most part, the characters redeemed themselves.

[ellenh_28 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I spent the first half wondering why I was continuing to slog thru this, I didn't care about the characters, in fact wanted to slap them out of their self absorption. But a friend was listening to it and caught the irony & sarcasm better that way, so I continued. I did end up with one favorite quote, (at least it made me laugh out loud)from page 444 talking about the characters Swedish, Lutheran ancestors. 'He became another data point in the American experiment of self-government, an experiment statistically skewed from the outset, because it wasn't the people with sociable genes who fled the crowded Old World for the new continent, it was the people who didn't get along well with others.

[jonfaith · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There are a number of fault lines throughout the book. An ill bent cold kept me home for two days and I read the majority of the novel in a pair of sweeping bursts. The characters oscillate into focus to push the narrative but feel, all too often, as just that: literary devices.

I am anxious to hear the reports of friends, one of whom, my best friend, suggested this enterprise. I admitted on our site for literary discussions that I encounter a vertigo when reading contemporary american fiction.

[unicycledad · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A nice book to finish on a fall evening, right before bed.

[anyotherbizniz · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read Dec 2010 - Jan 2011.Fascinating book for readers my age - although the main characters got much closert to real power than I will probably ever ghet. Perhaps a littel oversimplistically drawn. The cool musician (Richard to the others but Katz to himself) is a twot - but is still the cool guy we all wanted to be. Walter the good guy is just too good, but his lover Lalitha is very sexily drawn. Patty's kids and sisters are also caricatures. Does any young man really disdain blowjobs and would her sisters be quite so pathetic if the story was written from their angle? Patty is by far the most interesting and well drawn character, although it is not at all clear why the two leading men are so fascinated by her.I enjoyed the the book and it is a measure of its success in getting at me that I actually cared about the characters enough to really want a happy ending.

[dazzyj_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An engrossing read with complex characters. It nearly succeeds in its obvious ambition to update the classic nineteenth century novel. In the end, it is let down only by the clunky and obvious political satire/commentary.

[rdra1962 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very conflicted on this one. Enjoyed and was impressed with the first part and the las part (to a lesser degree) but hated the middle. Hated his depictions (ad nauseum) of sex, masturbation, poop and related excretions, and most of his female characters. Franzen knows how to write, there are beautiful sentences in this book, but I think he must be an insufferable jerk!

[indygo88 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I feel as though I've been reading this book forever, & instead of having that accomplished feeling after finishing a large book, I frankly just feel relieved that it's over. Given that it's a rather large tome, I knew I was in for a long read, but after I while I had the needle-in-a-haystack feeling, as in, I kept reading but didn't feel like I was making any headway. But alas, I did finish. And I'm kind of sitting here wondering what the point of this story was and thinking it could've been portrayed in a shorter workl. I suspect there is some symbolism that I'm just not getting, & I'm certain there are some political statements made in the book that I can give or take. But I'm still left with a feeling of "what's the point??" after finishing this one. I think not one single character was really likeable in this novel. And that's all I can say, other than this was a book club read & I am curious as to what my fellow clubbies will have to say.

[alvaro77_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was so depressing. Usually I can find one or two characters in a book that I can somehow relate to, but not in this book. It's about a couple, Patty and Walter, their relationship, how they met, their family, and the dysfunction they both came from. In the end, I found the story interesting and the subject of marriage and family worthy of my completing the book. I was glad I finished it because it was very satisfying.

[mausergem_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After finishing the book I'm lost for words. How do you describe this book? Is it a story about a family seeking freedom from each other? Or is the author trying to mock the American way of life and the political and the social structure?This very well written book by Jonathan Franzen gives us insight of a middle class suburban family living in St Paul in Minnesota. The narrative goes to and fro and we are led through the lives of Walter and Patty and their two kids Joey and Jessica. It’s a story of mistakes, love and hates of these four people. A gripping tale.My summation of the book or rather my understanding leaves much to be desired. I agree and apolgise in advance.

[katherinegregg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was my first book by Franzen and I look forward to reading The Corrections. The characters (especially Richard, Walter and Patty) were interesting and multi dimensional. However the book was a bit long and unwieldy. Franzen is good with words but like some of the other reviewers noted, I think he could have done some editing. He spent too much time on some chapters and subjects (like the bird project) that made the book unbalanced. Still I love reading about dyfunctional families and this didn't disappoint. I also thought that constructing the book as Patty's story to Walter was interesting.

[s_webb · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

So happy to be FREE of FREEDOM and move on to something not quite as unnecessarily long, unrealistic, or depressing.

[jgrann_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is a pleasure to read and contains some unspeakable questions worth considering. Given knowledge and power, how can we be both happy and free? How is desire related to freedom? Will having what you want change who you are? Are relationships the only noble pursuit in a free society? To what extent are parents responsible for the development of their children? Is growth good? Does the Internet undermine social communication? compassion? Feels like each reader will find their own set of reflective questions in this rich novel of a modern family.

[tedwitham · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Freedom lives up to its hype as the great American novel of 2010. It weaves together the complexities of the generations in a family with politics and environmentalism. It ranges from college life in the 70s, to music, to the mad New York world of money-making, to the beauty of the Minnesotan countryside.

[annb2013 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Stil not sure what made Patty tick. Too long.

[c_why · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Why not tighten up the next book, Mr Franzen.? Too much space, and not quite enough depth. But dead-on accurate: "They fuck you up/ your Mum,Dad & kids,/ They may not mean to/ but they do. THIS one should have been called "The Corrections", as all we do is to try & live our lives in opposition to the previous generation, so as to straighten everything up. Backfires every time

[teenielee · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Wow, some shitty parents who HAVE shitty parents have some shitty kids. Then some shit happens and they are shitty to each other until they realize they're the perfect amount of shittiness for each other and they ride off into the sunset of their shitty lives.

[bohemiangirl35 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Patty, Walter and Richard, who meet in college, go through drama and angst as adults, making tough decisions about their children, careers and each other. This is a stereotypical Oprah's Book Club choice. I almost stopped listening in the beginning, but then something slightly interesting happened. I finished the book, but I'm not excited about it. Because it's an OBC choice, I should have known it would boil down to a midlife crisis for a middle class family. Not bad, not great. It was 19 discs and I still finished it, so that says something.