Jonathan Franzen Gives Brooklyn Audience a Taste of "Freedom"

National Book Award winning-author Jonathan Franzen read from his novel Freedom to a crowded room of well-behaved listeners at last night. Freedom is the book people can't stop talking about, and the book that, as journalist Adam Wilson noted in his introduction of Franzen, people are actually buying and reading.

They're reading it in droves, in fact, and droves are what came out for the reading last night, which also marked the 29th anniversary of BookCourt and the 2nd anniversary of the store's airy and comfortable event space. 

The enraptured crowd stretched from the far end of the back room all the way through the store, listening attentively as Franzen read a passage from the chapter "Womanland," including the phone call between Carol Monaghan and Joey Berglund. Franzen even did a killer Carol Monaghan voice. (If you don't know Carol from Joey, well, buy the book. Or take it out from .)

Franzen made it a point to announce that he's always nervous when he reads in New York, but he seemed completely at ease in Brooklyn, staying cool when the audio system experienced harsh interference from someone's cell phone. Franzen simply turned off the mic, optioning to speak loudly instead. He even gave us a little of what we were looking for.

"Two questions I've never been asked! It's great to be in Brooklyn!" he exclaimed, when audience questions surprised him. 

It was during the questions session that Franzen revealed the origin of a controversial character, Patty Berglund. In explaining how the narrative came to be, Franzen admitted that he met a woman at a party in Webster Groves, Missouri in 2003, whose name -- he's very much afraid, he said -- is Patty. 

"People you like who you only talk to for ten minutes are a goldmine for writers. You get a kind of erotic fizz off them," said Franzen. 

For fans of Freedom, the live reading quenched a bit of that thirst for insider information. The audience was informed that Franzen "really likes Joey," although he didn't expect to when he started writing. And, that cerulean warbler on the cover? He wasn't initially so hot for it, but an industry peer told him it was critical.

"The bird on the cover is Patty chirping, 'mistakes were made,'" Franzen said.

He spoke frankly about his previous The Corrections-related snafu with Oprah, whose show he taped 11 days ago for an upcoming episode that will spotlight Freedom. In a phone call between Franzen and Oprah prior to this most recent show taping, Franzen said he was moved by Oprah admitting to having learned from the experience with The Corrections. He feels she really had never thought about this before -- that some writers might not actually be thrilled to have an Oprah endorsement sticker slapped on the cover of their novels.  

"Writers don't have the power that TV personalities have, but what we do have is individual integrity. We want to be treated like creative peoples," Franzen explained. 

While in Oprah's upcoming episode she is likely to praise Freedom enthusiastically, the crowd -- while definitely fans of Franzen himself -- gave mixed reviews of the book. 

Seth Freudenburg from Bushwick enjoyed it but admitted there was a lot of what he called "white people pain" expressed throughout.

"I have so much sex, and I'm just so sad!" he said, mockingly.

Something he did admire about the novel was that while the characters weren't at all perfect, readers are keen to sympathize with them.

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion on the book -- everyone except for Zack Zook, the manager of BookCourt. He hadn't read it. 

"It's too long," he efficiently explained. Zook prefers more experimental literature, but he did coordinate Franzen's reading.

As for adding Franzen to South Brooklyn's roster of resident writers, don't count on it.

"It's nice to be in Brooklyn, but I feel it's my duty as the one writer to have not moved here to stay in Manhattan -- whether I like Manhattan or not," he said.  

Based on the warm reception he received at BookCourt, it's clear he'd be welcomed with open arms.

Correction: The quote "We want to be treated like creative peoples" was heard incorrectly. The correct quote is "We want to be treated like creative equals."