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The Interestings: A Novel Hardcover – April 9, 2013

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 9,641 ratings

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Named a best book of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Time, and The Chicago Tribune, and named a notable book by The New York Times Book Review and The Washington Post

“Remarkable . . . With this book [Wolitzer] has surpassed herself.”—
The New York Times Book Review

"A victory . . .
The Interestings secures Wolitzer's place among the best novelists of her generation. . . . She's every bit as literary as Franzen or Eugenides. But the very human moments in her work hit you harder than the big ideas. This isn't women's fiction. It's everyone's."—Entertainment Weekly (A)

From New York Times–bestselling author Meg Wolitzer comes a new novel that has been called "genius" (The Chicago Tribune), “wonderful” (Vanity Fair), "ambitious" (San Francisco Chronicle), and a “page-turner” (Cosmopolitan), which The New York Times Book Review says is "among the ranks of books like Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom and Jeffrey Eugenides The Marriage Plot."

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.
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, April 2013: This knowing, generous and slyly sly new novel follows a group of teenagers who meet at a summer camp for artsy teens in 1974 and survive as friends through the competitions and realities of growing up. At its heart is Jules (nee Julie, she changes it that first summer to seem more sophisticated) Jacobson, an aspiring comic actress who comes to realize she’s got more creative temperament than talent; her almost boyfriend Ethan Figman, the true genius in the bunch (he’s a cartoonist); musician Jonah Bay, son of a famous Baez-ish folksinger; and the Wolf siblings, Ash and Goodman, attractive and mysterious. How these five circle each other, come together and break apart, makes for plenty of hilarious scenes and plenty of heartbreaking ones, too. A compelling coming of age story about five privileged kids, this is also a pitch-perfect tale about a particular generation and the era that spawned it. --Sara Nelson

From Booklist

In that self-obsessed, hyperaware, and mordantly ironic way of privileged teens, Ethan, Jonah, Cathy, Ash, and her brother Goodman dub themselves “The Interestings” when they reconvene at their trendy creative-arts summer camp in the Berkshire Mountains. Jules, née Julie, Jacobson is both flattered and flabbergasted to be admitted into their little enclave, where she uses her sardonic wit to compensate for a lack of beauty, money, or social graces. To her surprise, golden-girl Ash adopts her as her best friend, while the dorky but brilliant Ethan becomes mired in unrequited love. After a tragedy affects two of their members in very different ways, the remaining group slogs their way into adulthood, embarking upon careers and relationships with varying degrees of success and satisfaction. Despite being rooted in a wealth of pop-cultural references, from Nixon’s resignation to the Moonies to Wall Street scandals and even the aftermath of 9/11, Wolitzer’s clique of narcissistic friends turns out to be not so interesting after all. --Carol Haggas

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverhead Books; First Edition (April 9, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594488398
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594488399
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.54 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.41 x 1.41 x 9.27 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 9,641 ratings

About the author

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Meg Wolitzer
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Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times bestselling author of The Interestings, The Uncoupling, The Ten-Year Nap, The Position, and The Wife. Her new novel, The Female Persuasion, has been named a most-anticipated book of the year by Time Magazine, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine, and more. She was the guest editor of The Best American Short Stories 2017, and lives in New York City.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
9,641 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the characters well-delineated and well-portrayed. They describe the book as a joy to read with great writing and descriptive prose. The storyline explores positive and negative bonds of friendship, trying to pursue dreams. Readers find the insights thought-provoking and emotional.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

625 customers mention "Character development"445 positive180 negative

Customers find the characters well-developed and flawed. They describe the book as a good case study on human nature.

"...Well written character studies that evolves over the course of time into something that never falls short of the title's promise...." Read more

"...up some of that good old 80's nostalgia, and overall the characters were compelling and Meg Wolitzer is able to make you want to keep reading to see..." Read more

"...However, the bigger issue for me was that way too much time was spent on certain characters and their respective arcs, specifically Jules and Ethan...." Read more

"...The writing is exquisite, the character composition is so thorough and genuine (flaws are as impactful as strengths to their life trajectories) and..." Read more

599 customers mention "Readability"587 positive12 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable and interesting. They say it's worth reading if you're interested in tuning. Some readers mention that the book starts amazing but is missing 32 pages. Overall, customers appreciate the literary fiction genre and recommend it as a good summer beach read.

"Hats off to Meg Wolitzer in the writing of "The Interestings," a truly engaging book that sucks you in to the lives of a group of people that spent..." Read more

"...Overall, I really enjoyed this book...." Read more

"...This is the best novel I've read in the past year...." Read more

"...I liked about it: as another reviewer said, it's kind of an old-fashioned novel, at least in its structure and scope...." Read more

409 customers mention "Writing quality"346 positive63 negative

Customers enjoy the writing quality. They find the dialogue and prose descriptive and readable. The author has a gift for dialogue, and the thoughts and desires of the characters are believable and tragic. The powerful dialog and conflict between the characters engages readers.

"...Wolitzer does a great job of writing to a genderless audience creating a lucid study of talent, the ties that may bind people together for life..." Read more

"...Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, stirred up some of that good old 80's nostalgia, and overall the characters were..." Read more

"...The writing is exquisite, the character composition is so thorough and genuine (flaws are as impactful as strengths to their life trajectories) and..." Read more

"...as well as John Irving's or Pat Conroy's. The combination of great writing, fantastic characters, and relatable themes makes The Interestings a book..." Read more

345 customers mention "Storyline"253 positive92 negative

Customers enjoy the storyline. It explores friendship, relationships, and connection through the years. They find the book relatable and enjoyable, with a good tale about self-absorbed friends who think they're better than others. The characters enjoy the journey through their lives, especially being tagging along with interesting people.

"...cost of regret and envy, the plight of parenthood, the touch of relationships and connection and what happens when those ebb and flow...." Read more

"...It was well written, stirred up some of that good old 80's nostalgia, and overall the characters were compelling and Meg Wolitzer is able to make..." Read more

"...a compelling, if not totally likable character - they are outgoing and social and have that inexplicable quality that draws others into their orbit,..." Read more

"...working in the book's title to "wrap everything up", the ending was perturbingly prosaic...." Read more

166 customers mention "Thought provoking"132 positive34 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking and emotional. They say it explores human feelings and interactions between intimate friends. The author covers a wide range of subject matter, including envy and relationships. Readers praise the book as fascinating and filled with truth.

"...I thought it was a well-written and, at its best, touching novel...." Read more

"...Secondly, Wolitzer **does** offer up a few great insights, which I liked enough to highlight..." Read more

"...I think Wolitzer avoids that, knowingly or not. She broaches a lot of subject matter, but as I mentioned before this is an ambitious work and in the..." Read more

"...prose, and I admire a writer who is able to maintain and sustain a reader's curiosity together with a concentration with what seems to feel like..." Read more

136 customers mention "Insights"99 positive37 negative

Customers appreciate the book's insights. They find it explores in depth what it means to be interesting when young. The author is praised for her nuanced observations and insightful commentary on people and situations. Readers appreciate the honest portrayal of historical events and the intimate descriptions of a group of teenage friends.

"...All sorts of interesting cultural references are thrown in as we follow along with the trajectories of the Interestings' lives from the late 70's..." Read more

"...What is unique here is Wollitzer's brilliance at nuanced observation, the dramatic and highly believable twists of fate and the richness of her off..." Read more

"...For me, I just felt it was unnecessary to include the political aspects (e.g., the group's unanimous hatred towards Reagean) or the sociological..." Read more

"...' narration is also fantastic - she offers funny, spot on commentary of people and situations and is incredibly honest; matter of factly describing..." Read more

798 customers mention "Story quality"473 positive325 negative

Customers have different views on the story. Some find the Wolf family compelling and the premise intriguing. Others feel the story lacks interest and the plot is lacking, interrupting the flow of the book.

"...adulthood and coming of life after children book that holds your interest all the way through...." Read more

"...was by far the most interesting character and his story was significantly less involved, which annoyed me after 500 pages...." Read more

"...It's an interesting topic, though...what do you do when your friends become not just rich but truly wealthy?..." Read more

"...is unique here is Wollitzer's brilliance at nuanced observation, the dramatic and highly believable twists of fate and the richness of her off hand..." Read more

145 customers mention "Pacing"60 positive85 negative

Customers have different views on the pacing of the book. Some find it quick and easy to read, seamlessly moving from past to present and following the characters' paths over time. Others feel the story slows down in the middle, with commas slowing the pace down.

"...adulthood, even though the characters are, for the most part, rather chilly, especially teenaged protagonist Jules, things begin happening so fast..." Read more

"...It reads easily and fluidly [not lyrically] yet it did make its mark on this reader...." Read more

"...wonderful story and I would have given it five stars except for the slowing pace I encountered in the middle of the book...." Read more

"...It was an enjoyable, quick read, and worth the time." Read more

... and didn't it always go like that...  SO lovely.
5 out of 5 stars
... and didn't it always go like that... SO lovely.
I am befuddled by the negative reviews of this novel; I mean, it's a novel, so lord, I get it - it's not for everyone, but it was for me. Following character arcs nearly 40 years is no easy feat - and Wolitzer loving crafts her talented misfits in a way that will pull you towards understandings you may have already understood but weren't quite as bold as Ethan Figman to say or to do. I am thankful for this novel every day.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2013
    Hats off to Meg Wolitzer in the writing of "The Interestings," a truly engaging book that sucks you in to the lives of a group of people that spent a few formative summers at a creative arts camp growing up. A coming of age and coming of adulthood and coming of life after children book that holds your interest all the way through. Well written character studies that evolves over the course of time into something that never falls short of the title's promise.

    The cast of characters are the main character Jules who is transformed as a teenager into one of the cool in-crowd kids when she discovers her penchant for humor; Ethan Figman, the somewhat homely creative genius, brother and sister made in the shade New England blue bloods, the beautiful and graceful Ash and the misanthropic and clueless Goodman; and a few other minor characters to include the son of a Joan Baez-like folk singer, and an all too voluptuous ballet dancer. Sounds interesting enough for you?

    I was first hipped to this book from NPR's continual touting of it through various forums and author interviews. Meg must have spent quite some time courting the studios of NPR upon book release. Or maybe the book was just so good and engaging that the NRP'ers came to her. Then it turned into the selection read for the infamous DFW Literary Society and I have to say the book lived up to the hype.

    The writing is good, but not sublimely creative. All sorts of interesting cultural references are thrown in as we follow along with the trajectories of the Interestings' lives from the late 70's through the 'Aughts. Where the writing grabs you though is in the characterization. This is Wolitzer's strong suite. She keeps juggling all the different character's lives within the book (maybe 7 - 8) and gives them each a plot, a voice, a sense that what they are doing matters and how it all turns out keeps you turning page after page wishing the book wouldn't end. And to top it all off, Wolitzer writes smarmy sex scenes, that kind of surprised me.

    So there was a lot about this book that I was hesitant about. I'm not a big fan of the decade after decade biopic fictional look of a life. Too much Legends of the Fall or One Hundred Years of Solitude for me. Also it would appear that The Interestings is one of those books written by a woman appealing to a largely female audience but neither hesitation panned out. Wolitzer does a great job of writing to a genderless audience creating a lucid study of talent, the ties that may bind people together for life regardless of circumstances, the place of privilege and opportunity in America, the cost of regret and envy, the plight of parenthood, the touch of relationships and connection and what happens when those ebb and flow.

    Wolitzer, in The Interestings, does nothing short of creatively illuminating life and all it's possibilities and pitfalls. Engage in The Interestings, you won't regret it. Read it, Read it! --mmw
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2013
    Reading this book was an odd experience, because I really enjoyed it, even though I found the main character Jules to be pretty unlikable. She spends the entire book consumed with jealously of her childhood friends. It was a strange dynamic, because even though she loved her friends above almost everything else, it was as if in some ways she felt that deep down she was better than they were - at least some of them. And she seems to feel that she's better than almost everyone else, too.

    Jules meets 5 friends at a summer camp, and the 6 of them remain close for the next few years. 2 people leave the group, and the other 4 remain close friends over the next 4 decades. Jules spends most of that time resenting and envying the 2 who become wildly successful, while she continues to struggle. But she brings it on herself, mostly because of the career path she pursues. It's an interesting topic, though...what do you do when your friends become not just rich but truly wealthy? Do you pretend that nothing has changed, even though you really no longer run in the same circles? If your rich friend picks up the tab, does that mean you're taking advantage or sponging? Can you truly be happy for your friend's successes without feeling even a sliver of bitterness that fortune did not shine as brightly upon you? I'd like to think I'd handle it better than Jules did. I had a friend from high school that I met up with again some years later when we were both living in the same city. It was then that I found out that she was independently wealthy and lived off a trust fund. Once she was contemplating what she should do, because she was rather bored with her life, and said, "Maybe I should get a job," as if it would be some kind of diversion. I shook my head and laughed at the difference between her and most other people (including me), as we need jobs in order to survive. Then I continued to have a blast hanging out with my friend. Jules just seems perpetually dissatisfied with everything in her life. The one time she does try to break her pattern and re-invent herself ends in a very disappointing way.

    I wish more time had been spent on the character of Jonah, because he by far had the most interesting story. But he seems to kind of hover in the background.

    Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, stirred up some of that good old 80's nostalgia, and overall the characters were compelling and Meg Wolitzer is able to make you want to keep reading to see what happens next. I just wish Jules had been less frustrating, or at least shown a smidgen of growth.
    3 people found this helpful
    Report

Top reviews from other countries

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  • Mrs Smith
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great quality book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 14, 2024
    Bought book as a gift for my dad. He was very happy with it. Nice quality. Good price.
  • Kotti1
    5.0 out of 5 stars Muss man gelesen haben - Must read
    Reviewed in Germany on August 24, 2016
    Dieses Werk entspricht in seiner Anlage z.B. den Buddenbrooks von Th.Mann (natürlich nicht in der Meisterschaft der Dichtkunst). Es umspannt die für die westliche Welt wichtigen Form gebenden Jahrezehnte des letzten Jahrhunderts (aus USA-Perspektive), also nach dem WWII und vor dem Kollaps des Ostblocks. Der rote Faden bringt Lebensfragen zum Klingen, die jedem allgegenwärtig sein dürften. Der Roman (?) ist eigentlich wie ein Entwicklungsroman oder Kammerspiel geschrieben. Sparsam im Szenenwechsel, fest umrissen in der Zahl der Akteure. Abgestimmt und Durchdekliniert im Handlungsverlauf. Die Protagonisten werden ausführlich vorgestellt, werden dem Leser von Seite zu Seite vertrauter. Das individuelle Coming of Age ist mitreißend vorgetragen und in die historische Szenerie eingefügt. Ich war nach einer etwas zähen Aufwärmphase vollkommen faszniert.
  • Jess
    5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it.
    Reviewed in Canada on January 28, 2014
    If you love a good growing-up story - this is a good one. I found the structure of the book interesting - no pun intended - loved learning about each of the characters and would have even loved to learn about a few more of them. A very humanist account of the human condition - flawed and relatable characters leave the reader with a sense of "I know that person" with each character and leaves us wondering what it is that we don't know about the people around us. A perfect story about how imperfections of humanity.
  • Mireille CHastagner
    5.0 out of 5 stars Born to Be Interesting
    Reviewed in France on June 16, 2015
    Excellent novel . A thick book, which you never fell like putting aside until the last line . It is the saga, over some forty years, of six characters. We meet them as tenneagers, when they are staying at an artsy holiday camp . And we follow their lives into adulthood. The characters are "very interesting", even if not in the way they thought they would be, when they called themselves " The Interestings", aged, 15. We feel as if these people really existed, we could have met them somewhere, the ups and downs of their lives just ring bells.
    Anyone is interesting, whatever their lives, their goals, their expectations.
  • kristina spalding
    4.0 out of 5 stars The interestings by Meg Wolitzer
    Reviewed in Spain on June 3, 2014
    This is a new author for me. I have read about her in the English press. I was very impressed by the language and liked the story. I will buy more of her