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The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer (view source)
Revision as of 13:33, 13 August 2020
, 13:33, 13 August 2020no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=The Interestings
|sort= Interestings
|isbn=978-0701188276
|website=http://www.megwolitzer.com/
|videocover=0099584093|amazonukaznuk=<amazonuk>0701188278</amazonuk>0099584093|amazonusaznus=<amazonus>0701188278</amazonus>
}}
Back in 1974 six teenagers met at summer camp and did all those things which you get to do when your parents are not around to stop you. They smoked pot, drank vodka and Tangs - and talked way into the night about anything and everything. Plays were put on, animations were perfected, but most importantly , friendships were made that would last for years - for some , it would be a lifetime. Back in 1974, as Nixon left the White House under a particularly heavy cloud, 'The Interestings', as one of their number called them, knew that they could achieve anything they set their minds to. For three summers they returned to Spirit-in-the-Woods and then they faced the real world.
As with any group, some will sustain and achieve their ambitions, others will change course through will or necessity and there will be those who stumble and fail. The centre of the group was Ash Wolf, beautiful, indomitable and kind, who was at camp with her brother, the quirky, self-centred Goodman. It was Ash, from a wealthy family, who brought Jules Jacobson (or ''Julie'' as she then was) into the group, befriending the girl from an ordinary suburb who'd just lost her father. Ethan was drawn to Jules, although it didn't work in reverse - but he would be the one whose talent survived the years. Cathy would give up her dancing and Jonah would swop his guitar for engineering.
I enjoyed Meg Wolitzer's [[The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer|The Uncoupling]] and it was the insightful writing in that book that tempted me to pick up ''The Interestings'', but this is more ambitious than anything Wolitzer has written before. It could be that this is the book which lifts her from the ambiguous ''women's fiction/possibly general fiction'' genre to literary fiction, because this isn't ''just'' a story about what happens to six people.
The book isn't uplifting, but it is thought-provoking and engaging, with characters who stay in your mind long after you turn the final page. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
If this book appeals then you might enjoy [[Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson]]. For teens, we can recommend [[Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer]].
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