This was supposed to be a great book. The New York Times said its “everything we want in a novel.” Pat Conroy called it “The brightest, boldest, and most ambitious novel I’ve read in many years.” Even Oprah loved it.

And I didn’t like it.

This is not to say that it isn’t well written. Esquire is right; “The Corrections” is “a stunning anatomy of family dysfunction.” I’m just not feeling sufficiently bitter to appreciate that right now. Maybe I should only be reading books about rainbows, teddy bears and pretty, pretty flowers.

That being said, there were a few phrases that rang true for me:

… “She’d always been a pretty woman, but to Chip, she was so much a personality and so little anything else that even staring straight at her he had no idea what she really looked like.” …

… “Not being theatrical, Chip felt disadvantaged around people who were.” …

… “What you discovered about yourself in raising children wasn’t always disagreeable or attractive.” …