Walter had never liked cats. They'd seemed to him the sociopaths of the pet world, a species domesticated as an evil necessary for the control of rodents and subsequently fetishized the way unhappy countries fetishize their militaries, saluting the uniforms of killers as cat owners stroke their animals' lovely fur and forgive their claws and fangs. He'd never seen anything in a cat's face but simpering incuriosity and self-interest; you only had to tease one with a mouse-toy to see where it's true heart lay...cats were all about using people

It has very little to do with democracy or the will of the people. In recent years Franzen has become recognized for his purveyance of opinions on everything from social networking services such as Twitter ("the ultimate irresponsible medium") and the proliferation of e-books ("just not permanent enough") to the disintegration of Europe ("The people making the decisions in Europe are bankers. The Corrections soon became one of the decade's best-selling works of literary fiction.

His most recent novel Freedom (2010) led to a controversial appearance on the cover of Time magazine alongside the headline "Great American Novelist". Jonathan Earl Franzen (born August 17 1959) is an American novelist and essayist. His 2001 novel The Corrections a sprawling satirical family drama drew widespread critical acclaim earned Franzen a National Book Award was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist a James Tait Black Memorial Prize and a shortlisting for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.