I appreciate the craft in Jonathan Franzen’s novel Crossroads. Franzen can make complicated sentences live on the page. He excels at weaving flashbacks into narrative. Much of Crossroads takes place over one day, following five members of a family as they collide and rebound like billiard balls struck with a cue. Franzen packs the close-third person chapters with past events and emotional backstory. I admire this greatly, and wish I could do this so seamlessly in my own writing. In spite of these technical achievements, I would not have finished this novel if it hadn’t been part of a discussion in a class that I am currently taking. The POV characters are sad and whiny in a way that does not hold my attention or make me care about what happens to them. Of course, one doesn’t have to like characters to enjoy a novel (think: Lolita), but there needs to be some connection that keeps one reading. I found that lacking here.