He's probably the most popular literary fiction writer in the world right now. Obama read his new book a week before anybody else could get there hands on it. With that said, I've I only read Freedom. Which is the new one.
I was skeptical of the fame for terrible and mortifying reasons. And it turns out that I absolutely loved Freedom. I suppose you can wiki all information for basic plot information because there really is no way to sum it up simply. All relationships are so really complex and entwined that it would be a mess to describe to you.
If I were you I would read Freedom (even though I'm sure Corrections is good) because it very much is related to issues in the current. And because you won't regret it. I'm having a nostalgia attack just thinking about it. And this is all coming from a person who is probably so fastidious in book selection that it's morbid.