The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer

I wasn't sure I was going to like this book. I am not really interested in reading "feminist books", to be honest. But, while the book centered around the "women's movement", it was more about relationships. Relationships between women, between family members, between men and women. It's also about the "path" people choose to follow when they are young, and about the diversions in that intended path and how each person responds to those diversions.

There are two main characters: Faith, the women's movement mentor, and Greer, the intelligent college student who lives on the outside of society due to her limited family support. There are some strong supporting characters though too: Cory, Greer's longtime immigrant boyfriend, Zee, her lesbian best friend from college and Emmett, a womanizing millionaire (thanks to his wife!) The author gives us history on each of these characters, which adds a lot to the reader's investment of each person - and the relationships between each of them.

There are a couple of important messages. First of all, no one should be placed on a pedestal. There is only one way to go when you are standing on a pedestal, and that is down. Greer puts Faith up there, and then is devastated when she finds out Faith has "sold out" to the people funding her foundation. All people are flawed in some way. To have an idealistic view of any human is unreasonable - and bound to cause hurt and disappointment at some point. The second message is that you should make the best of your life no matter what derails you from your original path. 

Each character learns something important in their journey through life. Most of them end up in a different place than they thought they would. Most of them are happier for it. Some broken relationships are repaired and survive; some don't. Disappointments, heartbreak, anger, ignorance about another's intentions - these are things we all go through at times in our lives. What matters is what we do about them. Do we let it cripple us, or change direction?

The book has a bit of a slow start, but continue reading because it's worth it.

Wendy's Rating: ****