The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

“These teenagers around her, all of them from New York City, were like royalty and French movie stars, with a touch of something papal. Everyone at this camp was supposedly artistic, but here, as far as she could tell, was the hot little nucleus of the place.”

Every now and then you pick up a novel and feel understood. Its as if the author has dug into your deepest fears and insecurities and spilled the beans for all to see. Wolitzer is that kind of author for me. The blow is softened by how clever, funny and entertaining she is. The embarrassing or downright mortifying is served up in a neat package that points out the ridiculousness of it all.
Growing up as a complete nerd who always felt like a fish out of water, I could relate to the way Jules is magnetised by her new friends from camp who come from a different world.


The friendships established during that first summer of 1974 have ramifications that reverberate throughout her and her friends lives, There's the uncomfortable comparisons with people living a seemingly 'charmed' life of monied success along with the emotional ties that bind and divide.
I absolutely love the way Meg Wolitzer writes and my hero worship of her began when I attended a panel she spoke at for the Sydney Writer's Festival some years ago. What a woman, what an author, what a mind!!


So far I've enjoyed everything of hers that I've read and this was definitively no exception. I literally devoured its content over 2 days ( admittedly I didn't go to bed on time because I had to finish).
Youth is a time of endless possibilities that narrow with age and I think this is beautifully captured here. Unrequited love, the secrets we keep for our friends, the moral fog that our relationships can draw us into, are all engaging themes that emerge throughout the text.


Can you remain best friends with someone when wealth disparity pushes you apart? The exploration of this tension is particularly enthralling, especially in the impact it can have on partners and family.
The question of what love is- familial obligation, aspirational longing for a true mind/ body connection, or settling for comfort and stillness? Her characters grapple with the gamut of these emotions and are so well wrought that you feel like you've grown up with them from camp teepee discussions through to shared overseas holidays. Personally this novel seems to exemplify that feeling of middle aged ennui and the realisation that the excitement and possibilities that existed in youth have morphed into an existence that you can only try to make sense of.


In case it isn't very obvious by my effusive praise, I absolutely adored this book and was so glad I turned off the television for some dedicated reading time.


5 out of 5 - wild about Wolitzer.