THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL? NOT ACCORDING TO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Stanford University recently reported that nearly 30% of all new couples in the US found one another through online dating services and/or social media like Facebook and Twitter. That suggests the unsleeping waves of change continue to roll and wash over us at rates never before known in history...!

But then there is Jonathan Franzen.

His epic new novel, "Freedom," comes out today, and already it's being prized as a candidate for The Great American Novel. Universally reviewed with kudos, critics are saying that in readability it ranks with "Gone With The Wind," and in quality it stands on the level of "The Great Gatsby."

The storyline has been called "a monumental tragicomedy about an apparently perfect Midwestern family, destined to be read 200 years from now."

Well.

In studying the spate of glowing reviews, there was only one which seemed to hold a grudge. The "Wall Street Journal." But then, we can't be surprised. Quoth the voice of free enterprise: "The novel may win praise for its highly polished narrative realism....but actually it's an elaborate, 500-page argument that the original sin of free-market capitalism lies at the root of all the hurt Americans inflict on one another...carefully engineered to make the case that our entire culture is poisoned by an infatuation with personal freedom."

Wow.

When one's personal economic freedom is challenged by either uppity presidents or authors, it's time to slam down that Martini at the island poolside, and get on the phone to yours brokers and editors. I mean, when you "own" the American Way of Life, you sure don't want the Great American Novel taking any cheap shots...!