I was facinated by Dr. Goldhaber's book review. His poor opinion of the book seems to hinge partly on the author's failure to explain the cause of the mother's pulm. embolism. I have not read the book but my initial reaction is to help justifify the author's decision to have his fictional mother die of a pulm. embolism, not a rare cause of death. It is a writer's prerogative to decide if a fictional character of his/her creation lives or dies and from whatever cause. A good example is Tolstoy's Ivan Il'lich who's painful death was unexplained. But in the end it was Tolstoy himself who chose to kill the fictional Ivan Il'lich. In the novel Christine Falls by Jonathan Black (AKA John Banville), Christine, a pregnant young woman, was said to have died from a pulm. embolus but an autopsy proved otherwise (the death certificate had been falcified). Did Franzen's mother have an autopsy? 

Goldhaber, stick with medicine.  So Franzen didn't explore the character's cause of death in the rest of the family.  So what.  It's a novel.

Franzen's writing flows, he is inventive, he gets into a character's feelings and as a result the reader (well, in this case, that would be me) can detect a resonance within -- "oh yes, I've felt that way, too.... "  You are right, the characters are shallow and mostly unlikeable.  Again, so what.  It's a novel.

The critics appreciated Franzen's ability to write well.  You don't.  Stick with what you know.  I think that will make a lot more sense, and what you say will make a lot more sense.