'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 Gunter 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?
I'm a little emotional right now, but I am also feeling really wistful and introspective. This book spans 37 years in the life of a group of friends, who met one summer at a little arts camp in Vermont. From that first summer, their lives became intertwined and over the years, their friendships would change, from time to time, and their paths would diverge and then converge again, but they would always be friends.
This book pleased me in so many different ways. I really liked was how the story was non-linear. It started and jumped back and forth in time, giving me little crumbs that I could do with what I would in my own head. I found myself so invested in these people's lives and with each clue, I tried to guess what had happened or what would happen. I shed tears for these people, real tears, embarrassed myself in public, tears. I delighted in the fact that I was taking a walk down memory lane. In an almost Forest Gump way, the history of the times (the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s) were playing out in the background of the story and I would get that "ooh I remember that" rush (although I am slightly younger than the main characters). I also found myself relating to how your life and your friendships evolve with becoming a parent and age.
Right now I am starting a "slow clap" for Wolitzer. Kudos, Meg Wolitzer. Kudos!
