The Ten-Year Nap

December 24, 2007
In her latest novel, Wolitzer (The Wife
; etc.) takes a close look at the “opt out” generation: her cast of primary characters have all abandoned promising careers (in art, law and academia) in favor of full-time motherhood. When their children were babies, that decision was defensible to themselves and others; 10 years on, all of these women, whose interconnected stories merge during their regular breakfasts at a Manhattan restaurant, harbor hidden doubts. Do their mundane daily routines and ever-more tenuous connections to increasingly independent children compensate for all that lost promise? Wolitzer centers her narrative on comparisons between her smart but bored modern-day New York and suburban mommies and the women of the generation preceding them, who fought for women’s liberation and equality. Contemporary chapters, most of which focus on a single character in this small circle of friends, alternate with vignettes from earlier eras, placing her characters’ crises in the context of the women, famous and anonymous, who came before. Wolitzer’s novel offers a hopeful, if not exactly optimistic, vision of women’s (and men’s) capacity for reinvention and the discovery of new purpose.

March 1, 2008
Wolitzer follows up her strong previous works, "The Wife" and "The Position", with an equally riveting tale. Continuing her feminist view of contemporary society, she examines the lives of highly educated professional women who take a ten-year break from their careers to raise children only to realize after a time that they need to examine their inner lives to see if a former career, or something completely different, beckons. The book centers on four New York City women with sons at an expensive private school. Amy Lamb, an attorneyturnedstay-at-home mom, becomes obsessed with her new friend Penny's illicit affair. Amy's best friend, Jill, must face the truth of her adopted Russian daughter's learning disabilities. Artist Roberta's husband is trying to make it big with his puppetry. Other mothers feature in the story, and characters from the past, too, are introduced (e.g., Amy's mother, an intense feminist author back when "working mother" was an oxymoron). Beautifully written and cleverly paced, this novel has a great story with messages on many levels. Only one complaint: with all the bouncing back and forth among characters, readers may find it frustrating having to switch to a different character just as the character they're on is getting interesting! Can you say "sequel"? [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 11/1/07; Riverhead plans an online reading-group guide.]Beth Gibbs, Davidson, NC

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2007
Wolitzer, best-selling author of The Wife (2003) and The Position (2005), brings some much needed compassion and a rare wit to the contentious divide separating mothers who work from those who dont. Four New York friends meet regularly at a local diner to commiserate over themore banal aspects of life asstay-at-home moms. All of them possess Ivy League degrees and more than a nodding acquaintance with the world of work, including law, banking, and film production. After having children, however, they opted to stay home because, in the words of Amy, the main character, a new mother was not in her right mind. Something overcame her, and her entire purpose was to save that baby, as though she were a superhero flying with arms outstretched through the metropolitan sky. Now, 10 years into raising her child, a bored Amy attends interminable fund-raising meetings for her sons private school while scribbling kill me now on a napkin.Then shebecomes friends with a sophisticated urbanite who appears to have it alla family, wealth, and a glamorous career.But a shocking glimpse intoher friendsflawed moral core and into herown familys precarious finances gives her the jolt she needs to move on to the next phase in her life. Its a rare novelist who cantransform domestic fiction into a sustained, smart, andfunny inquiry intotheprice of ambition, the value of work, issues of class, and the meaning of motherhoodWolitzer is that novelist.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)

May 26, 2008
This self-conscious, idea-driven novel is read well by Alyssa Bresnahan, but she doesn't clearly distinguish each mother struggling for identity and purpose in today's confusing “post-feminist” middle class. Speaker identity comes not from the reader but from “Amy said” or “Jill said.” There is plenty of irony—note the title—but Bresnahan's ironic tone sometimes leads us to dismiss characters' experiences and feelings. This is not entirely her fault as the main players are somewhat stereotyped: lawyer quits work to care for baby (now aged 10); husband struggles to keep family afloat; grandmother remains feminist warrior; Chinese mother wastes her mathematical genius. But Bresnahan does enliven Wolitzer's recap of modern women's conundrums, so despite limitations, this audio will surely kindle controversy on blogs and at book clubs, kitchen, school and office confabs. Simultaneous release with the Riverhead hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 24).