The Interestings
Vic143 says:
I didn't expect to like this book - it had been widely compared to The Corrections, which I found depressing. This book, while similar in its depiction of somewhat "average" Americans, has a touch of levity that was missing in Franzen's novel. The characters are engrossing and well, "interesting," and as they move through life from age 14 to 40 you find yourself alternately cheering for, jeering at, and feeling deeply ashamed on their behalf. A great read.
maddie_fishy says:
Great writing, very insightful plot threads about class, marriage, female friendship, male-female friendship, "success". If you need structure created by big events and action that happens externally to people's interior world then this book is not for you, as many people have commented the characters' perspectives can sound mired in problems that are not problems--self pitying--and for others not enough "happens". However for me it was like I was tuned to the right channel, so many feelings I have had ...and struggled to reckon with as I have gotten old are characterized with seeming effortlessness by the author. Loved the Fresh Air interview in which Wolitzer described how some women resist growing out of their 20s. So true! Loved the little New York-isms like description of the Royalton hotel's sink "like a wok" (totally), Shleppers, The Met etc. The protagonist does have feelings and responses that are imperfect and ugly--don't we all? I love that the author also has great sympathy for these human failings, and even made this character a therapist herself.MoreLess
I didn't expect to like this book - it had been widely compared to The Corrections, which I found depressing. This book, while similar in its depiction of somewhat "average" Americans, has a touch of levity that was missing in Franzen's novel. The characters are engrossing and well, "interesting," and as they move through life from age 14 to 40 you find yourself alternately cheering for, jeering at, and feeling deeply ashamed on their behalf. A great read.
maddie_fishy says:
Great writing, very insightful plot threads about class, marriage, female friendship, male-female friendship, "success". If you need structure created by big events and action that happens externally to people's interior world then this book is not for you, as many people have commented the characters' perspectives can sound mired in problems that are not problems--self pitying--and for others not enough "happens". However for me it was like I was tuned to the right channel, so many feelings I have had ...and struggled to reckon with as I have gotten old are characterized with seeming effortlessness by the author. Loved the Fresh Air interview in which Wolitzer described how some women resist growing out of their 20s. So true! Loved the little New York-isms like description of the Royalton hotel's sink "like a wok" (totally), Shleppers, The Met etc. The protagonist does have feelings and responses that are imperfect and ugly--don't we all? I love that the author also has great sympathy for these human failings, and even made this character a therapist herself.MoreLess
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