Strong Motion

This article is about a novel. For information related to seismic instruments, see Strong ground motion.

Strong Motion (1992) is the second novel by American author Jonathan Franzen.

Strong Motion

First edition cover
Author	Jonathan Franzen
Cover artist	Jacket design by Paul Bacon
Language	English
Publisher	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date	January 1992
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback and Paperback)
Pages	508 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	0-374-27105-4 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC	23287302
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 20
LC Class	PS3556.R352 S7 1992
Preceded by	The Twenty-Seventh City
Followed by	The Corrections

Strong Motion was noted by reviewers for its impassioned social criticism, the thoroughness of its research, and its treatment of controversial themes such as abortion, feminism, corporate malfeasance and exploitative capitalism.

Plot summary

Louis Holland arrives in Boston to find that a minor earthquake in Ipswich has killed his eccentric grandmother, triggering a struggle between him, his sister Eileen, and his mother Melanie over the disposition of a $22 million inheritance. During a visit to the beach, Louis meets Dr. Reneé Seitchek, a Harvard seismologist who believes she has discovered the cause of subsequent earthquakes in Peabody. Louis, Reneé, and the Hollands' affairs become entangled with the petrochemical and weapons company Sweeting-Aldren, as well as an anti-abortion activist commune called the Church of Action in Christ, headed by Reverend Philip Stites.

Critical reception

Reception to the book was mostly positive, with critics applauding its style, ambition, and riskiness; the New York Times described it as "the stuff of several books crammed into one long, dense narrative about contemporary urban America".^[1] Negative criticism focused on a perceived lack of focus, and an attempt to interweave too many plot threads—the Los Angeles Times noted that "Franzen writes beautifully for the most part, though sometimes to excess".^[2]

During an interview in 2015, Stephen King said that Franzen is one of his favorite novelists working today, particularly because of King's admiration for Strong Motion.^[3]