Meg Wolitzer
Author of The Interestings
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
Tea at the House 1 copy
Melissa Meyer 1 copy
Dead Men Do Tell Tales 1 copy
An Nachteule von Sternhai 1 copy
Associated Works
Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases (2020) — Contributor — 182 copies
Why We Write: 20 Acclaimed Authors on How and Why They Do What They Do (2013) — Contributor — 179 copies
The Moth Presents Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible (2019) — Foreword — 116 copies
Pretty Bitches: On Being Called Crazy, Angry, Bossy, Frumpy, Feisty, and All the Other Words That Are Used to Undermine… (2020) — Contributor — 68 copies
McSweeney's Issue 49 (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern): Cover Stories (2017) — Contributor — 56 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Wolitzer, Meg
- Birthdate
- 1959-05-28
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA (birth)
- Country (for map)
- USA
- Birthplace
- Long Island, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
- Education
- Brown University (1981)
- Occupations
- professor
writer - Relationships
- Wolitzer, Hilma (mother)
- Organizations
- Columbia University
Stony Brook Southampton - Agent
- Suzanne Gluck (William Morris Agency)
Members
Reviews
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 26
- Also by
- 10
- Members
- 9,870
- Popularity
- #2,413
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 581
- ISBNs
- 256
- Languages
- 10
- Favorited
- 10
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!… (more)