Published a few months ago, “Freedom” is a book a lot of people are talking about.
The author, Jonathan Franzen, was called the Great American Novelist by Time Magazine.
“Freedom” came to my attention because of a sort of cameo by a famous Omahan.
In the novel, Richard Katz is an indie rock musician who, late in his career, starts being cited as a major influence by Jeff Tweedy and Michael Stipe, among others.
The fictional Katz's fictional bands — Walnut Surprise and the Traumatics — start seeing an increase in popularity even though he's starting to age.
Anyway, Katz and his college roommate, Walter Berglund, head to D.C. to see an indie rock band.
Who's on stage? Bright Eyes.
The characters go to the 9:30 Club, a real place, to see Conor Oberst and his band. Berglund loves the group and can't stop talking about them. Katz isn't so sure.
“Oberst took the stage alone, wearing a powder-blue tuxedo, strapped on an acoustic, and crooned a couple of lengthy solo numbers. He was the real deal, a boy genius, and thus all the more insufferable to Katz,” the book reads. “Then the rest of the band came out, including three lovely young backup Graces in vampish dresses, and it was all in all a great show — Katz didn't stoop to denying it. He merely felt like the one stone-sober person in a room full of drunks, the one nonbeliever at a church revival.”
It also mentions our town.
“Walter gushed about the Conor Oberst story: how he'd started recording at twelve, how he was still based in Omaha, how his band was more like a collective or a family than an ordinary rock group.”
The passage isn't a key moment in the story or anything, but it's interesting to see Oberst show up in a high-profile novel.
Oberst was unavailable for comment. Maybe he's busy gearing up for his next appearance.
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