Book 35 of my 2023 Reading Challenge
read from March 21 - April 11
The Interestings
by Meg Wolitzer
Summary (via Goodreads)
The summer that Nixon resigns, six teenagers at a summer camp for the arts become inseparable. Decades later the bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed.
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 kind of creativity that is rewarded at age fifteen is not always enough to propel someone through life at age thirty; not everyone can sustain, in adulthood, what seemed so special in adolescence.
Jules Jacobson, an aspiring comic actress, eventually resigns herself to a more practical occupation and lifestyle. Her friend Jonah, a gifted musician, stops playing the guitar and becomes an engineer. But Ethan and Ash, Jules’s now-married best friends, become shockingly successful—true to their initial artistic dreams, with the wealth and access that allow those dreams to keep expanding.
The friendships endure and even prosper, but also underscore the differences in their fates, in what their talents have become and the shapes their lives have taken. Wide in scope, ambitious, and populated by complex characters who come together and apart in a changing New York City, The Interestings explores the meaning of talent; the nature of envy; the roles of class, art, money, and power; and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and a life.
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 kind of creativity that is rewarded at age fifteen is not always enough to propel someone through life at age thirty; not everyone can sustain, in adulthood, what seemed so special in adolescence.
Jules Jacobson, an aspiring comic actress, eventually resigns herself to a more practical occupation and lifestyle. Her friend Jonah, a gifted musician, stops playing the guitar and becomes an engineer. But Ethan and Ash, Jules’s now-married best friends, become shockingly successful—true to their initial artistic dreams, with the wealth and access that allow those dreams to keep expanding.
The friendships endure and even prosper, but also underscore the differences in their fates, in what their talents have become and the shapes their lives have taken. Wide in scope, ambitious, and populated by complex characters who come together and apart in a changing New York City, The Interestings explores the meaning of talent; the nature of envy; the roles of class, art, money, and power; and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and a life.
My Opinion
4 stars
The pages flew by while I was reading but there wasn't a huge draw to come back if I set it down. The reason sounds negative but was also a reason I really liked it - there wasn't a huge plot point or cliffhanger at the end of a chapter so I knew they would wait. I wouldn't call it mundane but it was an ordinary progression of life and friendships; money added some sparkle and travel (and explained some of the secrets they were able to keep) but at its core it remained the same.
I did become nervous as the pages were dwindling and no huge fight or friendship break had occurred because that is something I expected from a book (and there were enough possibilities swirling around that it could've happened quickly). Although I can't say there was no drama the book did stay fairly true to itself and I felt satisfied with the end in a bittersweet way.
Quote From the Book
"It wasn't easy to understand how the love between two other people could diminish you."
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