Estamos a 23 de diciembre de 1971, y la familia Hildebrandt se halla en una encrucijada. Russ, el patriarca, pastor adjunto en una iglesia de Chicago, está a punto de liberarse del yugo de un matrimonio que considera infeliz... Suponiendo que Marion, su brillante e inestable esposa, no se libere primero. Tras haber hecho algo que va a destrozar al padre, el primogénito, Clem, regresa a casa para pasar las vacaciones. Su hermana Becky, que desde hace tiempo es la indiscutible reina de la vida social de su colegio, ha virado hacia la contracultura de la época. Y Perry, el pequeño, harto de vender hierba para mantener su adicción a las drogas, está decidido a ser una persona mejor. Por caminos muy distintos, los Hildebrandt ansían una libertad que los demás amenazan con complicar.

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Publishers Weekly Best Book 2021 Fiction

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021

It's December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless―unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem's sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who's been selling drugs to seventh graders, has resolved to be a better person. Each of the Hildebrandt's seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate.

Jonathan Franzen's novels are celebrated for their unforgettably vivid characters and for their keen-eyed take on contemporary America. Now, in Crossroads, Franzen ventures back into the past and explores the history of two generations. With characteristic humor and complexity, and with even greater warmth, he conjures a world that resonates powerfully with our own.

A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, its action largely unfolding on a single winter day, Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis. Jonathan Franzen's gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident.