"Strong Motion" by Jonathan Franzen

I just finished reading “Strong Motion” by Jonathan Francine. No surprises here – the book, like all his works, is an astonishing piece of art. The story takes place in New England where the reader learns to navigate cognitively through the suburbs of Boston, Harvard Yard, around old towns like Ipswich and Peabody and into the mind of the author with his personal experiences of these old places.

In the midst of elaborately descriptive paragraphs (Franzen bravely forges ahead with an impressive knowledge of seismology), the reader learns of a new geological theory - if a chemical company pumps waste into the depths of Earth long enough, it’d surely create cataclysmic events, powerful earthquakes, destruction and a host of other things that accompany mass hysteria. The main character is this twenty something year-old boy named Louis who’s out on his own, navigating through life, jobless, penniless, learning to fall in love with an older woman (Harvard University doctor), making the mistake of his life and trying to redeem himself. Ah, what a rich work of emotions, strong motions, with powerful ‘show-you’ narratives rather than ‘tell-you’ mundane lectures. I read and read and read and loved it and I’m sure you would too. I highly recommend it.

- by Simon Cleveland