The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer — A Review

No one is as great as you are when you are in your early teens. Your group of friends is the best group of friends, you have the most talent, the most passion, the most feels. In short, you and your group are the only ones who matter in this world.

You are all Interesting.

Meg Wolitzer's book follows the path of a group of friends who meet as teenagers in Spirit-of-the-Woods summer camp for artistic, gifted children until their late 50s. It's all about the course of friendship, lives who touch yours and those who leave, trauma and heartbreak, the solidity of old friendships and the paths you follow, jealously and envy and growing up, getting old, the ever present divide of wealth and poverty.

I really enjoyed this. I'm inclined to seek out books with outcasts, misfits and characters with 'artistic temperaments', for lack of a better phrase. These folk fit the bill, but they aren't even at all that likeable, really. Jules previously known as Julie before the magical initial summer of The Interestings meeting, is the main character within this book, and she's fairly self absorbed. Ethan Figman, the animator extraordinaire who 'makes it' and lives his gift, is physically unattractive, driven by his own motives (intentionally or not--I'll leave that to the reader to decide), and can't bring himself to love his autistic son with genuine affection.

Goodman is an all around tool and Ash can't let go of her childhood and let's it drive her actions as an adult. Jonah is easily led, regressed by his strange youth, and Cathy strikes me as someone who shouldn't have been within the inner circle at all.

But- that's people. People suck. No one is perfect and charming and wonderful all the time. Friends who you know and know you see your flaws and good friends will tell you about them. I can relate tot his book because of my teenage years, I suppose. I still, at 30, feel fairly trapped in the idea that I was 'something', something beyond high school football games and cigarettes under the bleachers, the latest fashion and the mundane drama of cliques and youth.

In short, I thought I was Interesting too.

This book rambles, meanders, follows the characters where they go. Think Frances Ha, Tiny Furniture, mumblecore. Don't expect a straightline plot. Expect lives lived, and take from that what you want to. I find life interesting, even if it's ordinary. There's hidden depth in everyone, you just need to find it.

Read it if that sounds intriguing, if you want to think about your past and present and long term friends.