Scan barcode
A review by nothingforpomegranted
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
5.0
This book begins pushing up against curfew in the boys' teepee at summer camp. The campers in the teepee--Jules, Ethan, Goodman, Ash, Jonah, and Cathy--as well as the rest of the crowd of adolescents at Spirit-in-the-Woods harbor within them a spark of greatness, an element of artistic genius that is cared for and developed at Spirit-in-the-Woods before the campers go forth to success or squander their talent all away. In the two subsequent chapters, we get a peek into the future lives of these friends. A couple of them, indeed, have been able to share their genius with the world, amassing substantial wealth and renown. The rest, have mostly abandoned their artistic impulses at the gates of Spirit-in-the-Woods, living adult lives with varying degrees of comfort, wealth, connections, and success.
I loved every page of this book. I also had an interesting experience while reading of loving it from the very first page and spending the next 400 pages simultaneously engrossed and anxious that [a:Meg Wolitzer|113936|Meg Wolitzer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1510237393p2/113936.jpg] would do something with or to these characters that would ruin it. That didn't happen. It is true that our characters experience trauma, frustration, and despair, but there was no dramatic, unrealistic, utterly destructive climax, and even when I disagreed with characters, I understood them.
Beyond that, the language was just stunning. Wolitzer packed so much detail into every sentence, introducing new characters for just a page or two, making references and callbacks to previous chapters, previous time periods. The writing forced me to slow down. I just wanted to let the language wash over me. It wasn't about moving on to the next line, the next page, the next chapter. It was about meeting these characters, entering their lives, understanding their motivations, and experiencing their joys and their travails along with them. Yet, when I reached the last page, I was satisfied; despite the quantity of characters and the length of the timeline, I wasn't left wanting more. Wolitzer anticipated and answered my questions, and these characters had led complete lives by the time I reached the end of the book.
I loved every page of this book. I also had an interesting experience while reading of loving it from the very first page and spending the next 400 pages simultaneously engrossed and anxious that [a:Meg Wolitzer|113936|Meg Wolitzer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1510237393p2/113936.jpg] would do something with or to these characters that would ruin it. That didn't happen. It is true that our characters experience trauma, frustration, and despair, but there was no dramatic, unrealistic, utterly destructive climax, and even when I disagreed with characters, I understood them.
Beyond that, the language was just stunning. Wolitzer packed so much detail into every sentence, introducing new characters for just a page or two, making references and callbacks to previous chapters, previous time periods. The writing forced me to slow down. I just wanted to let the language wash over me. It wasn't about moving on to the next line, the next page, the next chapter. It was about meeting these characters, entering their lives, understanding their motivations, and experiencing their joys and their travails along with them. Yet, when I reached the last page, I was satisfied; despite the quantity of characters and the length of the timeline, I wasn't left wanting more. Wolitzer anticipated and answered my questions, and these characters had led complete lives by the time I reached the end of the book.