Beach Book INTERVIEW! Oprah and Jonathan Franzen discussing FREEDOM
There is a long story behind this book and the relationship between Jonathan Frazen and Oprah. I watched this video this week and decided that this would be a much better overview of the book ‘Freedom’ than I could ever give. It is also very interesting to see what the author thinks and says about their book. Mr. Franzen does a great job of speaking about his intentions, thoughts, writing and the book in this interview.
As a backgrounder, in 1991 Mr. Frazen wrote a great novel, The Corrections, which became an Oprah Pick when it was released. Mr. Frazen declined to be on Oprah’s show as he is not a media guy and once you watch the video he does go into his inability to understand the need for marketing and media. He is a writer and is not comfortable with self promotion or media coverage. Back in 1991, Oprah freaked out, to put it lightly, when she heard that her Oprah Pick author would not come on the show. There was more media coverage for the book based on this professional faux pax then there was for the book. No…one….says…..NO….to……OPRAH.! Or at least no one but Jonathan Frazen.
Fast forward to 2010. Mr. Frazen releases another book, Freedom, which took him 9 years to write. He is awarded by Time Magazine, the award and label “the Great American Novelist”, is read by Obama himself while on vacation and again Oprah has him as her Oprah Pick….and this time Jonathan did not say NO to Oprah. But he does deal with her very well in this interview. the interview becomes more interesting when you know this background information and Oprah really does ham it up a bit.
You will see the interesting relationship 9 years later between Oprah and Mr. Frazen. He is a brilliant writer and I have enjoyed all of his novels. He is media ackward, but he does a great job in this interview. His books are tough and sometimes dark, lengthy and thought provoking. He does deserve the title, the GREAT American Novelist and has earned his status as a great writer.
