The Corrections

The Corrections takes place during the turn of the millennium, a period that seems quite distant from today. What is familiar to you in its portrait of America and the national mood? What is strange? Do you think that the book anticipates our present moment at all? In what ways?

The novel’s title refers to the corrections of the financial market. What other corrections, or attempted corrections, take place in the novel? To what degree do these corrections work?

Chip, the Lamberts’ middle son, escapes to Lithuania on a whim. He experiences a sense of relief and even happiness in doing so, at least at the beginning. Where do you think that his feeling comes from? What about Lithuania—a corrupt, war-torn country—is attractive to him? In what way is his new job as a confidence man a continuation of his previous career projects?