Who Needs Correcting?

The Corrections is indeed a powerful novel of family, relationships, disfunction, and discontent. There is also humor, if sometimes, black humor, and there are realistic situations that almost any family can identify with. Is it a good read? Yes and no. On many levels, The Corrections makes us think about our lives and the individual family relationships that haunt and please every family. The characters focus blame on each other and on family dynamics, and take sides for and against each other in a complicated and often sad set of situations that each is hard put to escape.
Brother Gary is the methodical and practical achiever who views the shortcomings of his siblings and parents with a critical eye that reveals his assumed superiority as well as his fear of dealing with any of their problems, not to mention his own. Chip, the more lovable middle child, banks on his intelligence to get him through in a career that has not been successful, but who in the end, becomes the rock for the others. And Denise, the only sister, who tries to do the right things, seems to constantly mess up her personal life.
Add to this, Enid and Albert, aging parents who have years of unhappy history and blame against each other as well as against their children. It is Enid who feels that "corrections" are in order, mainly for poor ailing Albert, but also for each child who has brought various disappointments and embarrassments to her life.
This is not a happy book or even one that has a redemptive ending. There is really no reconciling or healing among the family members and if there is a shred of hope for any of them, it is for Chip who does seem to find some happiness at last. The most important aspect of this book is its heartbreaking revelation of what many families undergo because of misunderstanding, misplaced hopes and not enough love. It is a warning to all who read it to take stock and change before it is too late!