By: Meg Wolitzer
ISBN: 9781594488405
Publisher: Penguin/Riverhead
Publication Date: 4/3/2018
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars "No novel could feel more prescient in the #MeToo movement than Meg Wolitzer's The Female Persuasion...
Wolitzer's ultra-readable latest illuminates the oceanic complexity of growing up female and ambitious--and reveals the author's substantial insight into the tangles of gender and power." -Vogue "Symphonic... The perfect feminist blockbuster for our times." -Kirkus Reviews, starred review
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Interestings, an electric, multi-layered novel about ambition, power, friendship, and mentorship, and the romantic ideals we all follow deep into adulthood, not just about who we want to be with, but who we want to be.
To be admired by someone we admire - we all yearn for this: the private, electrifying pleasure of being singled out by someone of esteem. But sometimes it can also mean entry to a new kind of life, a bigger world.
Greer Kadetsky is a shy college freshman when she meets the woman she hopes will change her life. Faith Frank, dazzlingly persuasive and elegant at sixty-three, has been a central pillar of the women's movement for decades, a figure who inspires others to influence the world. Upon hearing Faith speak for the first time, Greer- madly in love with her boyfriend, Cory, but still full of longing for an ambition that she can't quite place- feels her inner world light up. And then, astonishingly, Faith invites Greer to make something out of that sense of purpose, leading Greer down the most exciting path of her life as it winds toward and away from her meant-to-be love story with Cory and the future she'd always imagined.
Charming and wise, knowing and witty, Meg Wolitzer delivers a novel about power and influence, ego and loyalty, womanhood and ambition. At its heart, The Female Persuasion is about the flame we all believe is flickering inside of us, waiting to be seen and fanned by the right person at the right time. It's a story about the people who guide and the people who follow (and how those roles evolve over time), and the desire within all of us to be pulled into the light.
Praise
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2018 by The Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Time Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire, Nylon Magazine, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Slate, The Seattle Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Lenny Letter, and more.
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Interestings, an electric, multilayered novel about ambition, power, friendship, and mentorship, and the romantic ideals we all follow deep into adulthood, not just about who we want to be with, but who we want to be.
No novel could feel more prescient in the #MeToo movement than Meg Wolitzer’s The Female Persuasion… Wolitzer’s ultra-readable latest illuminates the oceanic complexity of growing up female and ambitious—and reveals the author’s substantial insight into the tangles of gender and power.” —Vogue
"Much has changed in the feminist movement, and for all women... and this book observes those changes with a gimlet eye." —Time
"Finally, a novel about a complicated relationship that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: that between mentor and mentee. Full of Meg Wolitzer's signature acumen and insight." —Esquire
“A novel to get excited about.” —The Guardian
“An intricately woven and deeply layered story that follows women who connect, yearn, chase their ambitions, navigate structures of existing power while claiming their own, and who write their own stories—stories that ignite their imaginations and, sometimes, look vastly different from what they first planned.” —Southern Living “Wolitzer spins a thoughtful tale.” —The Boston Globe
"This dazzling novel about embracing womanhood and ambition is a timely read... Electric." —The Chicago Review of Books
"Wolitzer tackles a litany of timely topics, from unwanted sexual advances to the underrepresentation of women in film to Gamergate-type abuse." —amNewYork
“Hurrah! Meg Wolitzer is back! And her new novel about feminism, female power, and mentorship is almost uncannily timely." —Chicago Reader “Wolitzer has always found a way to write engrossing, smart, and breezy books that also cut to the heart of the conundrum of living as a woman in the world.” —Vulture
“Wolitzer is one of those rare novelists who is able to capture the zeitgeist… A master weaver of story lines.” —The Millions
“Leave it to Meg Wolitzer to craft a book so completely in touch with the zeitgeist, you'd swear she could see the future. The Female Persuasion is a gorgeously written novel filled with big ideas, but mostly it's just a damn good read.” —Popsugar
“As we look more toward feminist role models, The Female Persuasion reigns. Wolitzer’s ability to write nuanced female relationships makes her the perfect author to take on this topical-yet-eternal tale.” —Book Riot
“Symphonic… The perfect feminist blockbuster for our times.” –Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Ambitious and satisfying…This insightful and resonant novel explores what it is to both embrace womanhood and suffer because of it.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Sweeping yet intimate, Wolitzer’s timely saga places her characters at the heart of a new wave of feminism, one clinging to the old paradigms of protest while encompassing current politics of personal responsibility. In a complex web of friends, lovers, mentors, and rivals, Wolitzer compassionately and artfully discerns the subtle strengths at the core of these essential connections.” —Booklist, starred review
"Feels very much of the moment... an essential purchase." —Library Journal, starred review
About the Author
Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Interestings, The Uncoupling, The Ten-Year Nap, The Position, The Wife, and Sleepwalking. She is also the author of the young adult novel Belzhar. Wolitzer lives in New York City. Read More
