Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. Apr 15, 20 well, the interestings announces itself as a big book from the getgo, with its bold, eyecatchingly striped cover and substantial heft. A year in reading 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005. Thats precisely what meg wolitzer achieves in the interestings, surely the most fullyrealized and satisfying book of her career. Meg wolitzer the interestings unabridged audiobook. The interestings by meg wolitzer discussion questions. The sandbox is the play in which jules gets the part of the grandmother during her time at spiritinthe.
Meg wolitzer follows a group of teenagers from art camp on to adult life, with all its successes and disappointments. Jules, the initial outsider, is there on a by kelly roark meg wolitzers new novel, the interestings. Julie jacobson, a shy girl whose father has recently died, is offhandedly referred to as jules and feels. Narrated by you guessed it the wife of joe castleman, an author in his 70s who, after an increasingly. Amazons adaptation of the interestings is disappointing. The interestings the title is the opposite of the book and. These six dub themselves the interestings in that ironic way that fifteenyearolds do, while julie becomes the altogether more acceptable jules. Meg wolitzer returns with the interestings, a big and deliciously complicated novel that follows a group of summercamp friends through the decades. Like for example further on in the book when ethan excels in his career with figland and earns a lot of money, its as if he tries to hide the. Jules, ash, ethan and jonah first dubbed themselves the interestings as teenagers in the sweltering confines of boys teepee 3 at the artsy camp spiritin the woods. Reading the book, we hear a lot about the profundity of the connection forged by the interestings the first summer they were all together, but we dont really get to experience much of it. This important book introduces another side of a writer we thought we knew.
The interestings are a group of friends who meet during a summer camp. I may or may not add my two cents to each, but id love to hear what you thought. But dont make the mistake of thinking that all books with pacy and punchy narration are slim on content. The interestings part two, chapters ten and eleven summary. The interestings by meg wolitzer thoughts on papyrus. Now, though, with the book published and recently out in paperback, i find that im able to think back on a few of the things that pushed me. The interestings secures wolitzers place among the best novelists of her generation. Aug 01, 20 the interesting meg wolitzer an author lives up to her books title. The characters on the planet figland were alternately wormy, phallic, leering, and adorable, while in the excess light from the projector ethan himself was touchingly ugly, with a raw sheath of arm. Aug 21, 20 the interestings is the us novelist meg wolitzers 10th book, a long novel concerning the unfolding fates of a group of friends from teenagehood to middle age. It follows six characters who meet at summer camp in 1974 up through the presentalong with, to varying degrees, new friends, new relationships, and family members. Shes every bit as literary as franzen or eugenides. The feelings are like water overflowing, whatever she says.
Apr 05, 20 meg wolitzers the interestings takes the long view of gifted children. In this book, the central stage first take six teenagers. The wife, first published in 2003, is a story set in academia and publishing. The interestings the title is the opposite of the book. Jules is one of the main characters in the novel, and one of her biggest struggles is contentment and envy. So we have them to thank for the book s artless title. Meg wolitzer talks to jane ciabattari about the interestings, which follows six friends as their lives arc from one fateful summer. Jul 11, 2014 after i finished this book i wanted to immediately pass it down to all my friends so that they can discover the sheer beauty of meg wolizers writing, and see how many of these characters they will find reflected in themselves.
Her novel the interestings is also a bestseller which is as impressive. The interestings achieves what all great books should make you want to blab about it to everyone you know. Growing up jewish is in me, in many ways that probably come out more subtly than in other writers. After ash and ethan marry, jules complains to her husband, the difference in our lives. Amazons disappointing adaptation of the interestings. Please chime in and if youd like to reference the discussion point by number feel free. I read the book in four days, hushing anyone who tried to speak to me as i finished a paragraph or chapter, and laughing aloud at various cafes yeah, i became that person. Sep 04, 20 and ethan is both the artist who devises the cartoon world of figland to escape his parents eternal rowing, and the moral compass of the group. Beginning in 1974, the interestings crisscrosses the fifty years it spans with the greatest of ease, filling in a back story here, flashing back to a memory there, all the time weaving in details of the enormous social change taking place with the lightest of touches. Decades later the bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed. The interestings soars, primarily because wolitzer insists on taking our teenage selves seriously and, rather than coldly satirizing them, comes at them with warm humor and adult wisdom.
The characters on the planet figland were alternately wormy, phallic, leering, and adorable, while in the excess light from the projector ethan himself was touchingly ugly, with a raw sheath of arm skin etched with its own ugly dermatological cartoon. Jan 31, 2014 so, the interestings was pretty awesome, right im going to throw out a few topics for discussion. Apr 23, 2014 the interestings of meg wolitzers ninth novel are a group of friends who meet as young teens at a summer camp in the 1970s, where their creativity is nurtured, their sexuality starts to bloom, and for some of them the entire pattern of the rest of their lives will be set. The original group includes ash and goodman wolf, cathy kiplinger, jonah bay, ethan figman, and julie jules jacobson. Reviewed by barbara liss ever wonder what happens to the early promise and ambitious dreams of gifted children. Characters in the interestings are that, but lacking. Meg wolitzer is the new york times bestselling author of the interestings, the uncoupling, the tenyear nap, the position, the wife, and sleepwalking. So the title, then, is a shoutout to this group of people we meet and follow from their teen years into adulthood. This book also swept best depiction of female friendship, book ive recommended and given the most, best depiction of class, and author i want to be friends with. Intelligent and subtle, it is exquisitely written with enormous warmth and depth of emotion but what makes the interestings exceptional is the precision and elegance of wolitzers writing this should be the novel to make wolitzer a household name here too kate mosse the times. The year is 1974, and julie, ash, goodman, jonah, cathy, and ethan are typical teens with raging. The interestings the interestings are a group of friends who meet during a summer camp. It makes sense to adapt books like game of thrones into a tv series because, but for the interestings, whats the point. Do you think these titles or divisions are particularly meaningful to the story.
The interestings is warm, allamerican, and acutely perceptive about the feelings and motivations of its characters, male and female, young and old, gay and straight. May 09, 20 such books are made for humorless people who dont like television, candy, andor dancing. Apr 09, 20 the summer that nixon resigns, six teenagers at a summer camp for the arts become inseparable. The interestings you can get a headache trying to think about the interestings on a straight timeline, so let us break it down for you.
Shtulman mar 24, 2014 the greatest gift that any writer can give her readers is providing them with a fictional world they can immerse and ultimately lose themselves in. Figland is symbolic of the golden opportunity that decides who ends up successful and who ends up struggling. That maybe says a lot about how i felt about the book. I felt while reading the book that i was hearing about their connection secondhand. Characters in the interestings are that, but lacking much else you know them, or maybe youre one of them. It pretty much represents everything jules envies in ethan and ashs life. It just occurred to me in the teepee tonight that there was a slight possibility that you and i had something in common. Based on meg wolitzers bestselling 20 novel, the interestings, amazons new pilot centers on a group of friends who meet at camp as teenagers, and follows them through the. Meg wolitzer talks about the interestings the interestings meg wolitzer talks to jane ciabattari about the interestings, which follows six friends as their lives arc. Theres no denying it, i found this novel interesting and entertaining, but it didnt exactly wow me either. The interestings has become one of the books i return to over and over again, both for comfort and for reflection on the way. Since the first time i read it, the interestings has become one of the books i return to over and over again, both for comfort and for reflection on the way relationships change over the years.
The interestings has a pretty straightforward title. The interestings is the us novelist meg wolitzers 10th book, a long novel concerning the unfolding fates of a group of friends from teenagehood to middle age. Anyway, thats what figland is, and i dont even know why i want to show it to you, but i do, and here it is, he said. So what makes it a symbol instead of just an ongoing gag or a plot device. The interestingss inclusive vision and generous sweep place it among the ranks of books like jonathan franzens freedom and jeffrey eugenides the marriage plot. You can get a headache trying to think about the interestings on a straight timeline, so let us break it down for you. But the very human moments in her work hit you harder than the big ideas. Amazons disappointing adaptation of the interestings the. Meg wolitzer on the interestings and writing freely, openly, without fear.
Figland, read the credits, and antic characters began to prance and splat and jabber, speaking in voices that all sounded a little bit like ethan. This panoramic saga focuses on a group of baby boomers from the time they meet at a camp for the creatively gifted as teenagers through middle age. I mean, the book what i wanted to do was write about what happens to talent over a long period of time. But its increased weightiness isnt just about packaging. Like virginia woolf in the waves, meg wolitzer gives us the full picture here, charting her characters lives from the selfdramatizing of adolescence, through the resignation of middle age, to the attainment of a wisdom that holds all the intensities of life in a single, sustained chord, much like this book itself. Ethans show could just as easily have tanked, but it doesnt. Read free book excerpt from the interestings by meg wolitzer, page 8 of 12.
First, we get a glimpse of our main cast as teenagers at spiritinthewoods, the summer camp that ends up being the formative moment for a lot of what happens later. Apr 09, 20 well, the interestings announces itself as a big book from the getgo, with its bold, eyecatchingly striped cover and substantial heft. By kelly roark meg wolitzers new novel, the interestings, begins with a group of teenagers in a summer camp. But one of the other characters who becomes really central in the interestings, is named ethan figman, and he falls in love with jules right away, and he is the genius of the book. The interesting meg wolitzer an author lives up to her book s title. Meg wolitzers the interestings read an exclusive excerpt of meg wolitzers new book, the interestings. The original group includes ash and goodman wolf, cathy kiplinger. So one night wally figman actually finds that hes able to go into the shoe box. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. Never before has she written so feverishly, so courageously. The interestings, by meg wolitzer, focuses on six children who meet at a summer camp for childhood prodigies, and follows them through the next four.
Jun 22, 2016 based on meg wolitzers bestselling 20 novel, the interestings, amazons new pilot centers on a group of friends who meet at camp as teenagers, and follows them through the decades while. At the beginning, it seemed like talent was believed to be enough to get the interestings to where they wanted to go in life. When i wrote the interestings, which follows a group of friends from an arty summer camp for teenagers in 1974 up through their adult lives, tracking their talents, expectations, and. The washington post to say that the wife is wolitzers most ambitious novel to date is an understatement. The interestings of meg wolitzers ninth novel are a group of friends who meet as young teens at a summer camp in the 1970s, where their creativity is nurtured, their sexuality starts to bloom, and for some of them the entire pattern of the rest of their lives will be set. Jun 16, 2016 its fitting that a dear friend from college introduced me to meg wolitzers novel the interestings the saga of a group of friends who meet at spirit in the woods, a summer arts camp. She is also the author of the young adult novel, belzhar.
In the interestings, wolitzer follows these characters from the height of youth through middle age, as their talents, fortunes, and degrees of satisfaction diverge. The interestings s inclusive vision and generous sweep place it among the ranks of books like jonathan franzens freedom and jeffrey eugenides the marriage plot. Meg wolitzer the interestings unabridged audiobook download. Its the story of a group of bright, talented kids who bond at summer. The pure enjoyment of reading the interestings belies its skill and craft. Whether they are or will become the most interesting people who ever lived is not assured, but the times they live in provide a. And instead of being this nobody anymore, hes a grown man who. The kind of creativity that is rewarded at age fifteen is not always enough to propel someone through life at age thirty. Well, the interestings announces itself as a big book from the getgo, with its bold, eyecatchingly striped cover and substantial heft. You can get a headache trying to think about the interestings on a straight timeline, so let us break it down for you first, we get a glimpse of our main cast as teenagers at spiritin the woods, the summer camp that ends up being the formative moment for a lot of what happens later. This is the postvietnam generation indeed its woltizers own. Ethans animated figland series pays off in fame and astonishing wealth. Mar 25, 2014 the interestings is warm, allamerican, and acutely perceptive about the feelings and motivations of its characters, male and female, young and old, gay and straight.
From meg wolitzer, the new york times bestselling author of the female persuasion, a novel that has been called genius the chicago tribune, wonderful vanity fair, ambitious san francisco chronicle,and a pageturner cosmopolitan. I cant see it going beyond one season and a full season of ten or even eight episodes seems a little bit much. It very clearly refers to the tongueincheek name the group from spiritin the woods gives themselves, even if they only use it for a limited time. Elle in meg wolitzers lovely, wise the interestings, julie jacobson begins the summer of 74 as an outsider at arts camp until she is accepted into a. The interestings is a book of great depth and insight. Meg wolitzers the interestings takes the long view of gifted children. More broadly, the interestings fits into a category one might call new york friendship books, novels following a group of young people as they. Meg wolitzers the interestings takes the long view of. Feb 21, 2014 reading the book, we hear a lot about the profundity of the connection forged by the interestings the first summer they were all together, but we dont really get to experience much of it.