I have been reading with gusto Jonathan Franzen's new novel, Freedom. For me there is a kind of built- in "thrill of recognition," since the first 100 pages or so--that's how far into the 560-page work I am--are set in St. Paul and on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota. The latter, especially, is my old stomping grounds. The main character, Patty, plays for the Golden Gophers women's basketball team, and her husband-to-be, Walter, a first-year law student from The Range, goes to the games. So did I! During my years, from 1981 to 1984, you could display your student ID at the gate and watch a Big Ten women's basketball game for $1. It appears I missed Patty by just a couple of seasons, for her career-ending injury occurs in the winter preceding Margaret Thatcher becoming prime minister of Great Britain, which was in May of 1979. I have tried, and so far failed, to catch Franzen nodding with respect to his chronology. When Patty is 17, she is interruped while watching at her home in Westchester County, New York, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," which at the time "comprised the entirety of [her] knowledge of Minnesota." The show ended its seven-year run in 1977, so that fits. I thought I had him for sure when he has Patty resent the way in which back-up center Abbie Smith loses possessions by getting tied up, again and again, and then losing the ensuing jump ball. The alternate possession rule had to have been adopted by then, right? Nope, that didn't happen till 1981, so all the games Patty played in could well have been pockmarked by jump balls.
I suppose no spoiler alert is needed before I let drop that Jonathan Franzen's Minnesota scene diverges somewhat from Garrison Keillor's.
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