The moment Joan Castleman decides to leave her husband, they are thirty-five thousand feet above the ocean on a flight to Helsinki. Joan's husband, Joseph, is one of America's preeminent novelists, about to receive a prestigious international award, and Joan, who has spent forty years subjugating her own literary talents to fan the flames of his career, has finally decided to stop. From this gripping opening, Meg Wolitzer flashes back to 1950s Smith College and Greenwich Village and follows the course of the marriage that has brought the couple to this breaking point -- one that results in a shocking revelation.

With her skillful storytelling and pitch-perfect observations, Wolitzer has crafted a wise and candid look at the choices all men and women make -- in marriage, work, and life.

The book's layering of thought and emotion is so deftly rendered that on its surface it appears to be another in the genre that deals with the tensions between an older, prestigious, male and the younger pretty female dilettante, who in time becomes an acolyte to the man's talent; but all along we sense that under the surface there is much more than that, as, indeed, there certainly is. The author is an irrepressible humorist of the type that is funny especially when she is trying not to be. It is a book about the sweet and deadly revenge of the weak against an oppressor; it is a sociology about how a human relationship can evolve from symbiosis to parasitic exploitation, from sharing to taking to grabbing; and if Meg Wolitzer borrows some of the techniques of police novels, she rewards the reader by serving up the Holy Grail of detective books: a truly perfect crime. An extraordinary book that is likely to become a minor classic.


Wise and weary: must-read for writers   August 19, 2004
 18 out of 19 found this review helpful

This is an excellent novel, well-paced, sharply observed, witty, bitter, sad-- and also forgiving.

It's true as other readers have noted that the subject is not 100% original. But in my view it's the best execution of a story about a literary wife-- and isn't it the execution that matters? This book is a joy to read; the prose is elegant and economic. Yes it is a portrait of the changing times, but there is a central "story question"-- what is the final thing prompting Joan to divorce her famous husband, Joe Castleman, after a lifetime of marriage? Is it just bitterness that she never pursued her own talent, anger over his cheating and taking her for granted, self-actualization?

There is a twist in the book-- I didn't see it coming at all, but when it did, like the movie Sixth Sense, everything else fell into place. This is a must-read for anyone with literary aspirations or for anyone in a long-term relationship. I only knew Wolitzer as a comic writer before, and there are some comic scenes, but in this book she equals Gail Godwin and Philip Roth (who had to have been part of the inspiration for charismatic, crude Joe). This is as palatable as any beach novel but is so much more substantial!


A disappointment   May 21, 2003
 17 out of 22 found this review helpful

Usually I enjoy Wolitzer's books but this one annoyed me, particularly since the "twist" at the end wasn't surprising. I'm not giving anything away by noting that Joan Castleman, the narrator of this story, decides to leave her husband - this detail is revealed in the first chapter of the book, very early on. From there, she goes back and forth between describing the past (how she met her husband, his literary career, etc) and the present. It is the ending that seems so unbelievable to me and a throwback to earlier types of fiction, where women sacrifice themselves for love. A tale of two deeply dysfunctional people, in a marriage that lasted far too long, not particularly enlightening or engaging to read about.


the oprah crown will love "Wife".   May 26, 2003
 12 out of 28 found this review helpful

its not that it wasnt well written but rather I was disappointed at the way the main character chose to be in her life choices. "She" disappointed me. Initially it was compelling, or she was I should say, but she began to get irritating to me. It seems like this one will be a huge hit with the Oprah crowd, I just dont happen to fall into that category. If you want something with a little more "bite" to it, try "Thw Womans Room" bu marilyn french. I liked those characters better. I would love to read more by meg wolitzer but I want to see her characters in a little differant light. more gimption to them, if you would. keep plugginh Meg, youre talented, I just didnt care for the characters, but I like your wit!


Anyone who has taken Women's Studies 101 will be quite bored   June 20, 2004
 11 out of 14 found this review helpful

Meg Wolitzer writes a mighty fine sentence, and while I found her plotting predictable, it is certainly competent.

But the book bored me almost to tears. It's a slim novel, but at least a third of it repeats--sometimes in different words, but not always--the following sentiment: women have it tough, especially creative women. I agree that creative women do have it tough, tougher than creative men. In fact, I agree so wholeheartedly that I didn't need to hear it on every other page.

The cast of characters includes:
-the woman who kills herself because she can't express herself
-the woman who writes well but can't get any respect
-the woman who writes well and does get respect, but only because of her famous husband
-the woman who writes well and does get respect, but only because she's crazy
-the woman who writes well but can only do it under cover of her husband
-the woman who can't write well but does get respect because she's hot
-the woman who can write well and does get respect, but who hates all other women

If you want to read a book that's trying to raise consciousness about the issues of second-wave feminism, I recommend Marilyn French's The Women's Room, a book that sounds dated because it is dated, and that has more complicated and interesting characters.