Also, this is one of the exceptions to my bias against excertps being published in place of genuine short stories. This was presented nicely.

And I like this story, subject to the same qualifications. One of the things that I think Franzen does very well is contemplate the screwed-up order of things and ponder why that takes place.

The major event of this story should be the rape of Patty but for every character, including her, it becomes secondary — it challenges what they stand for, but everyone finds a way to leverage the disgrace to support their going-in bias. The coach wants to exploit it, her parents want to find a way around it, the perpetrator’s parents want to deny it ever happened. As for Patty, the physical effects were not much more than a rough game (Ethan did wear a condom, after all) and, while she moves into a more involved mode for a while, she retreats quickly in face of the social pressures around her.

I think that is a fair set of observations, delivered in more than adequate prose. Critics of Franzen say he is glib and obvious and those criticisms could certainly be applied to this story. I’m willing to go with his flow — I thought it was quite good.