THE INTERESTINGS, Meg Wolitzer

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For the first two-thirds of Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings I was filling the margins in with such insightful commentary as “Yes!” “Perfect.” and “Wolfe attempted this, again and again, but MW nails it.”

Following a gaggle of creative-type teens just one cohort ahead of me (Nixon-era, post-hippie) into a complicated adulthood was an easy sell, and Wolitzer kept me engaged by patiently teasing apart their preoccupations as they were hit with the unexpected exigencies of lived life. I was particularly grateful for Wolitzer’s focus on sexual preoccupations — surely the single-most defining and consequential preoccupation in any individual’s life. Where other authors veer toward the prurient, Wolitzer was compassionate, humane and unblinkered.

Unfortunately, at the two-thirds mark it is revealed that one of the significant characters is keeping a HUGE secret from another, and for no good reason. Wolitzer makes this choice explicable, and the subsequent fallout believable, but it remains a narrative ploy I react badly to. Works great (<- sarcasm) for television soap operas and lesser comic book series, but I cannot stress how much I hate, hate, HATE it.

I finished the book, and am impressed enough with Wolitzer’s craft that I will seek out another of her novels. And readers for whom this particular narrative trope does not trigger anaphylactic shock should find this an excellent read.

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