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Meg Wolitzer

Author of The Interestings

26+ Works 9,870 Members 581 Reviews 10 Favorited

About the Author

Meg Wolitzer was born on Long Island, New York on May 28, 1959. She is the daughter of novelist Hilma Wolitzer. She studied creative writing at Smith College and graduated from Brown University in 1981. Her first novel, Sleepwalking, was published in 1982. Her other books include Hidden Pictures, show more This Is Your Life, Friends for Life, The Wife, The Position, The Ten-Year Nap, and The Uncoupling. Her short story Tea at the House was featured in 1998's Best American Short Stories collection. Her books This Is My Life and Surrender, Dorothy were adapted into films. She has taught creative writing at the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop and Skidmore College and has written several Hollywood screenplays. She currently teaches writing at Columbia University. Her title, The Female Persuasion, made the bestseller list in 2018. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: 2018 National Book Festival By Avery Jensen - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72641762

Series

Works by Meg Wolitzer

The Interestings (2013) 3,036 copies
The Female Persuasion (2018) 1,361 copies
The Wife (2003) 1,122 copies
The Ten-Year Nap (2007) — Author — 994 copies
Belzhar (2014) 723 copies
The Uncoupling (2011) 675 copies
The Position (2005) 553 copies
To Night Owl from Dogfish (2019) 399 copies
The Best American Short Stories 2017 (2017) — Editor — 183 copies
Surrender, Dorothy (1999) 166 copies
Sleepwalking (1982) 125 copies
This is Your Life (1988) 84 copies
Friends for Life (1994) 40 copies
Hidden Pictures (1986) 38 copies

Associated Works

Tagged

2013 (35) 2014 (56) 2018 (41) 2019 (31) 21st century (32) American (41) American literature (60) ARC (35) audiobook (48) coming of age (87) contemporary (63) contemporary fiction (100) depression (45) ebook (66) family (59) feminism (107) fiction (1,120) friendship (168) grief (30) Kindle (44) library (32) literary fiction (48) literature (39) magical realism (31) marriage (118) motherhood (45) New York (75) New York City (82) novel (124) own (39) read (95) relationships (77) sex (33) summer camp (57) to-read (1,077) unread (53) USA (33) women (65) YA (57) young adult (67)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

This was the first piece of work by Meg Wolitzer that I had ever read, and I found her writing style to be one of my favorite aspects of this book. It's very descriptive, readable, with just a little bit poetic prose. Hands down, I would read another one of Wolitzer's novels just for the writing.

That being said, I think this book was imbalanced. The plot, while interesting and made me want to read the book in the first place, did not really go anywhere. We have all these women who are "struck" by a spell of sorts, and afterwards no longer want to have sex or be touched by any men. This occurs after the local high school decides to perform the Greek comedy "Lysistrata"- a play where Grecian women go on a sex strike to prevent their husbands from going to war.

I felt as if too much time was spent on giving long backgrounds of each of the main women characters- their marriage, sexual partners, habits, etc...it just got a bit tedious and wasn't moving the plot forwards, especially given that the book is under 300 pages. By the time the climax of the book came around, nothing had truly happened yet.
Sure, people (both male and female) were affected, but it all felt very passive.
Additionally, the whole ending felt cheesy and just simply convenient.

Lastly, I think the characters could have been more lively. They were will written and unique and many of them interested me, but they just felt so FLAT. I liked a couple of them, but it was a very superficial like. Aside from family or sexual-based wants, we didn't get to know them very well.

It was a well-written but just okay read. I've heard some good reviews about Wolitzer's "The Interestings" and will probably read that next of her books, and hopefully there is more development there!
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deborahee | 71 other reviews | Feb 23, 2024 |
As one might guess from the title, this smart, sometimes witty, novel is about gender politics, but it is much more than that. Also featuring into the story are explorations of corporate corruption, friendship, love, loss, hero worship, and the interesting and sometimes difficult interplay of different generations and cultures in the feminist community. A timely, well-developed novel, although occasionally pedantic and preachy — hence four stars rather than five. Still a worthwhile read.
 
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bschweiger | 61 other reviews | Feb 4, 2024 |
3.5 stars really. Engaging and a time machine of the late 70s through the Great Recession but needed an editor to crisp up the stories. Biggest disappointment was the Goodman storyline which had such promise to be interesting and fizzled.
 
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virtualars | 206 other reviews | Feb 3, 2024 |
DNF at 41% (Page 93)

*2 stars for what I did read. Just not for me.

May finish in the future but currently have no interest in doing so. I got sucked in by a gorgeous cover (1984 Avon Flare Paperback) and a great review by a favorite booktuber. I started reading it even though I usually never enjoy books when they deal with grief in a non-fantasy setting.
 
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Fortunesdearest | 1 other review | Feb 1, 2024 |

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Statistics

Works
26
Also by
10
Members
9,870
Popularity
#2,413
Rating
½ 3.5
Reviews
581
ISBNs
256
Languages
10
Favorited
10

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