As the story unfolds, the chapters alternate points of view so that each of the Hildebrandts is fully represented (with the exception of the youngest, Judson). Each makes a decision on Christmas Eve that will propel them in different, unforeseen directions.įranzen has won wide acclaim for his excellent characterization, but he has raised the bar with Crossroads. And lastly, Judson, at eight, is mostly left on his own to observe his family crumbling around him. A self-centered high school senior, Becky seems to care only for her status as school "royalty." Fifteen-year-old Perry, easily the smartest of the lot, has a budding career as a drug dealer. Their oldest child, Clem, due home from college for the holidays, has developed a sense of moral certitude that leads him to make a life-altering decision he knows his father will oppose and (rightly) take personally. She's also not blind to his attentions to other women, and she longs for the attractive, forceful woman she used to be. Marion, for her part, is also unhappy she's gained a lot of weight and knows her husband barely tolerates her presence. Entering this whirling mass of dissatisfaction comes a beautiful, newly-widowed parishioner who seems to promise deliverance. He's been supplanted at his church by a new, hip youth minister he resents being tied to his wife Marion, whom he finds repulsive and his children despise him. Patriarch Russ Hildebrandt, once a popular and commanding figure with lofty ideals, is now an associate pastor in suburban Illinois and intensely discontented with his life. Jonathan Franzen's Crossroads transports readers to the early 1970s, introducing us to a family on the cusp of change. National Book Award winner Jonathan Franzen's sixth novel introduces the Hildebrandts, a Midwestern family navigating change during the tumultuous 1970s.
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