The Interestings - Tapa dura

"This is a wonderful book. 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 Wolitzer’s writing... This should be the novel to make Wolitzer a household name here too" (Kate Mosse The Times)

"Wolitzer is a writer of prodigious energy and detail, with the knack for comic-satirical perceptions of character and culture" (Rachel Cusk Guardian)

"A complex, cleverly interwoven analysis of the moment when the lives of six friends begin to unravel’" (Viv Groskop Observer)

"Wolitzer has a knack for homing in on the kind of pretension-puncturing details that can sum up a minor character in a single sentence" (Hepzibah Anderson Daily Mail)

"Meg Wolitzer writes fluently about the American Dream and whether you should surrender your goals to reality in this wonderful novel" (Stylist)

"A breakout book" (Allison Pearson)

"If you enjoy the introspective aspects of Virginia Woolf or the American modernity of Jennifer Egan, you’ll love this sweeping, tragicomic novel of ideas" (Psychologies)

"One of those generation-defining America novels that tackles big historical issues" (Marie Claire)

"Full of wit" (Emerald Street)

"The wit, intelligence and deep feeling of Wolitzer’s writing are extraordinary and The Interestings brings her achievement, already so steadfast and remarkable, to an even higher level" (Jeffrey Eugenides)

‘Every summer we sit like this. We should call ourselves something.’ Ash Wolf said.
‘Why?’ said Goodman, her older brother. ‘So the whole world can know just how unbelievably interesting we are?’

On a warm July night in 1974 six teenagers play at being cool. The friendships they make this summer will be the most important and consuming of their lives. In a teepee at summer camp they smoke pot and drink vodka & Tangs, talk of Günter Grass and the latest cassette tapes; they also share their dreams and ambitions, still so fresh and so possible.

But decades later not everyone can sustain in adulthood what had seemed so special in adolescence. Jules Jacobson, an aspiring comic actress, has resigned herself to a more practical occupation; Cathy has stopped dancing; Jonah has laid down his guitar and taken up engineering. Only Ethan’s talent has endured. As their fortunes tilt precipitously over the years, some of them dealing with great struggle, others enjoying extraordinary wealth and success, friendships are put under the strain of envy and crushing disappointment.

Against the backdrop of a changing America, from Nixon’s resignation to Obama’s new world, Wolitzer’s panoramic tragicomedy asks how 'the Interestings' can be happy with being anything less than brilliant?