The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 4 books · 2001 to 2021

Jonathan Franzen

Literary and generalLiterary fictionFamily and book club

Jonathan Franzen writes large, satirical family novels of American life. The Corrections follows the Lambert family, scattered across the country, as their mother tries to gather them home for one last Christmas.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip. His novels are standalones; Crossroads begins a family trilogy.

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Who appears in which book

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LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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Jonathan Franzen books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

Novels

4 booksLiterary fictionFamily and book club
  1. 1The Corrections2001With Enid Lambert and Chip Lambert · Set in the fictional St. Jude, MidwestBuy on Amazon
  2. 2Freedom2010With Patty Berglund and Walter Berglund · Set in St. PaulBuy on Amazon
  3. 3Purity2015With Pip Tyler · Set in various placesBuy on Amazon
  4. 4Crossroads2021With Russ Hildebrandt and Marion Hildebrandt · Set in the fictional New Prospect, IllinoisBuy on Amazon

Characters

12 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

Leads