Meg Wolitzer should be a bigger deal. She is a great example, along with Clare Messud, of a contemporary woman writer who consistently churns out excellent work but is just never put on a pedestal the way her contemporaries tend to be...and by "contemporaries" I mostly mean her male contemporaries. You might notice a lovely and kind quote from Eugenides on the front cover of The Interestings, and that was an very pointed choice for a blurb, because Eugenides is often cited as an example of a writer who would not achieve the same kind of critical acclaim if he were a woman. I think that's not a good reason to hate on Eugenides, because he's an incredible write, but so is Meg Wolitzer, so please do yourself a favor and read her books as well.

The Interestings has been on my list for quite a long time now, and I'm ashamed to admit it's my first book by Wolitzer, but I'm really loving it. The first chapter introduces us to a group of adolescents who we'll then see come of age and devolve into middle-age over the course of the rest of the novel, and their introduction at summer camp in the early 1980s gave me such Wet, Hot American Summer vibes. I'm truly enjoying the experience and I'm excited to read more of her work.