Boy Crushes

Novelist

So what if he's not the most likable man who ever lived—a bit grizzly, a tad arrogant, oddly immune to Oprah's charms— Jonathan Franzen is a genius. His latest, Freedom, provoked such slobbering from critics as to detract from its basic appeal. But it is, to quote many, a "masterpiece." In an era when authors must all be spit-polished, multiplatform media whores, it's nice to see someone with genuine talent unafraid to be his crusty self.