kyt's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jenleah's review against another edition
2.0
2.5/5
This is a hard one to say much about. The writing is excellent, but also pretentious. I liked the way the author seamlessly moved from one character's story to the next, overall the story flowed very well. I usually love stories that span decades and follow the characters through years of their lives, but I just didn't feel connected to any of the characters or even like them much.
This is a hard one to say much about. The writing is excellent, but also pretentious. I liked the way the author seamlessly moved from one character's story to the next, overall the story flowed very well. I usually love stories that span decades and follow the characters through years of their lives, but I just didn't feel connected to any of the characters or even like them much.
daveed_reads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
indiapru's review against another edition
4.75
this book has stuck in my mind for years. susprisingly haunting story about dreams giving way to reality
kvmeehan's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
debi_g's review against another edition
4.0
The Interestings induces introspection. Thought-provoking concepts populate this novel in juxtapositions and conjunctions:
privilege and entitlement
loyalty and justice
truth and suppression
fulfillment and disappointment
intention and accident
celebrity and ordinary
relationships and estrangements
deprecation and envy
cynicism and wisdom
talent and perspective
disclosure and withholding
The writing is observant and exact, aloof yet sympathetic and revealing. Early in the novel, the primary character recognizes "how friendships be[gin]: one person reveals a moment of strangeness, and the other person decides to just listen and not exploit it" (21). Who can say why some friendships stick and others disintegrate? Who can judge accurately how much effort is worthwhile, overbearing, or imbalanced? The cognitive reasons for relationships, the appearance to outsiders, and the invisible, sensory factors of trust and attraction are revealed through the novel's intertwined friendships, familial bonds, and love, both unrequited and returned.
Wolitzer points out that no matter how essential a bond, an undeniable truth about family remains: "The minute you had children, you closed ranks. You didn't plan this in advance, but it happened. Families were like individual, discrete, moated island nations. The little group of citizens on the slab of rock gathered together instinctively, almost defensively, and everyone who was outside the walls-- even if you'd once been best friends-- was now just that, outsiders. Families had their ways. You took note of how other people raised their kids, even other people you loved, and it seemed all wrong. The culture and practices of one's own family were the only way, for better or worse. Who could say why a family decided to have a certain style, to tell the jokes it did, to put up its particular refrigerator magnets?" (320). Time and again, in this book, this demarkation is made clear.
Yearnings, whether undefined, misdirected, or abundantly fulfilled, swim languidly through the lives of The Interestings. One implied theme regards satisfaction's fleeting and fickle nature. The elusive chase may bring more joy than the supposed achievement can sustain.
The book has generated a range of personal reflection, nostalgia, and reckoning. Quality music, craftsmanship, lyricism, and (especially) writing reinvigorates my love for the arts and my craving to make a contribution. This book does that, but its inspiration is sourced from the shame and fear it propagates: perhaps I never possessed the potential others claimed to see, perhaps it's not a matter of talent so much as labor, and perhaps I am built only to recognize and appreciate art. Perhaps I will only matter to those whose lives I somehow inhabit. Perhaps that's enough.
I sense that is another message of this novel; no one strives for adequacy. Though it's certainly no pejorative, it's the overlooked foundation for another under-appreciated rank: contentment. It may not be interesting, but it's more elusive and envied than talent, recognition, or wealth.
privilege and entitlement
loyalty and justice
truth and suppression
fulfillment and disappointment
intention and accident
celebrity and ordinary
relationships and estrangements
deprecation and envy
cynicism and wisdom
talent and perspective
disclosure and withholding
The writing is observant and exact, aloof yet sympathetic and revealing. Early in the novel, the primary character recognizes "how friendships be[gin]: one person reveals a moment of strangeness, and the other person decides to just listen and not exploit it" (21). Who can say why some friendships stick and others disintegrate? Who can judge accurately how much effort is worthwhile, overbearing, or imbalanced? The cognitive reasons for relationships, the appearance to outsiders, and the invisible, sensory factors of trust and attraction are revealed through the novel's intertwined friendships, familial bonds, and love, both unrequited and returned.
Wolitzer points out that no matter how essential a bond, an undeniable truth about family remains: "The minute you had children, you closed ranks. You didn't plan this in advance, but it happened. Families were like individual, discrete, moated island nations. The little group of citizens on the slab of rock gathered together instinctively, almost defensively, and everyone who was outside the walls-- even if you'd once been best friends-- was now just that, outsiders. Families had their ways. You took note of how other people raised their kids, even other people you loved, and it seemed all wrong. The culture and practices of one's own family were the only way, for better or worse. Who could say why a family decided to have a certain style, to tell the jokes it did, to put up its particular refrigerator magnets?" (320). Time and again, in this book, this demarkation is made clear.
Yearnings, whether undefined, misdirected, or abundantly fulfilled, swim languidly through the lives of The Interestings. One implied theme regards satisfaction's fleeting and fickle nature. The elusive chase may bring more joy than the supposed achievement can sustain.
The book has generated a range of personal reflection, nostalgia, and reckoning. Quality music, craftsmanship, lyricism, and (especially) writing reinvigorates my love for the arts and my craving to make a contribution. This book does that, but its inspiration is sourced from the shame and fear it propagates: perhaps I never possessed the potential others claimed to see, perhaps it's not a matter of talent so much as labor, and perhaps I am built only to recognize and appreciate art. Perhaps I will only matter to those whose lives I somehow inhabit. Perhaps that's enough.
I sense that is another message of this novel; no one strives for adequacy. Though it's certainly no pejorative, it's the overlooked foundation for another under-appreciated rank: contentment. It may not be interesting, but it's more elusive and envied than talent, recognition, or wealth.
vanirajkumar's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
rrparker's review against another edition
4.0
I feel like I read this book at the exact right time in my life, and so I am quite fond of it. I cannot think of a book I've read recently that better captures the modern young (albeit, well educated) adult existence. I saw pieces of myself and and of my friends in all the characters and their circumstances.
I was intrigued by the books repeated theme of talent and how it relates to art and to success. I felt like it grappled with the subject in ways I myself have grappled with it. In it's way, this book allowed me to see a bigger picture.
At the start I felt that, while the story was captivating, the writing tended to be a little too overtly showy or self-aware. But as the book went on it seemed to mature. As I write this I can see that it was possibly a purposeful effect done by the writer, the writing maturing and deepening as the characters do the same.
Overall I feel emotional about the book because it addressed my life so intimately. I feel as if I have come from the story having learned something. I feel wiser from having read it.
I was intrigued by the books repeated theme of talent and how it relates to art and to success. I felt like it grappled with the subject in ways I myself have grappled with it. In it's way, this book allowed me to see a bigger picture.
At the start I felt that, while the story was captivating, the writing tended to be a little too overtly showy or self-aware. But as the book went on it seemed to mature. As I write this I can see that it was possibly a purposeful effect done by the writer, the writing maturing and deepening as the characters do the same.
Overall I feel emotional about the book because it addressed my life so intimately. I feel as if I have come from the story having learned something. I feel wiser from having read it.
dcmr's review against another edition
5.0
My favorite book of 2013 (so far). Witty & moving, with characters that grow and change, and ring true at every turn. Wolitzer creates an insightful and authentic view of people and friendships that evolve, devolve, change and grow.