How to Be Alone: Essays

Jonathan Franzen's How to Be Alone is a scattered collection of non-fiction essays published primarily during the late 1990s and early 2000s. They range from the personal (e.g., “My Father’s Brain,” about his own father’s dementia and death) to the topical (“Lost in the Mail,” about the Chicago postal system) to the literary (“Why Bother?”). About one-third of the essays are excellent.