A review by jcpdiesel21
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

3.0

A sprawling and mildly entertaining character-driven story with little in the way of plot. Much depends on the reader liking the core group of characters, who I had difficulty connecting and relating to at times. I found Jules in particular to be occasionally frustrating; many of her emotions and actions make her come across as overly petty and self-pitying. Wolitzer is a good writer, but relies far too much on telling rather than showing through her prose, which contains a plethora of unnecessary detail to slog through. While Jules, Ethan and Ash are fleshed out enough to follow and get invested in to the end, minor characters like Jonah, Goodman and Cathy suffer from underdevelopment and end up being one-dimensional. There are a lot of big ideas presented here through poignant observations, but the book overall has little in the way of heart and soul to truly be memorable and effective.