Found at the Mira Mesa library. Big name Jonathan Franzen. His debut novel. And it is set in St. Louis in the 80s and littered with STL references. Who knew? What a score! So excited! Until I started reading it. Terribly unrealistic plot line about an Indian woman related to Gandhi becoming Chief of Police and using terrorism and other tactics as a power grab to rule the city. Horribly weak character development. Slow and repetitive story development. Lack of redeeming conclusion. Just a massive disappointment given the author and the story’s setting. The frequent STL references were fun (Franzen wrote the novel as if one lived in STL and knew Skinker from Lindell), but I would never recommend this novel. Given my disappointment with The Corrections, I’m now officially out on Jonathan Franzen. And I find his close friendship to David Foster Wallace quite puzzling