Friday Books: The Position

The Position by Meg Wolitzer was the second novel I read by her in about two weeks. It was good--like The Wife, it's incredibly readable and Wolitzer still captures the intimacies of human nature. Although I liked the book and would recommend it for someone who needs a good beach or plane book (it's not trashy but it's engaging and easy without being stupid) I didn't like it as much as I liked The Wife.

The premise of the book is certainly compelling. The Mellow children discover a sex manual that their parents have written complete with illustrations of them screwing in different positions. Aren't you glad your parents weren't on the forefront of the sexual revolution? And if they were, that they didn't write a book about it? The book follows the children and the parents from the moment after the discovery of the book. Each chapter is about a different character and they're all pretty interesting and screwed up.

I know I'm not explaining myself particularly eloquently here but I guess my issue with the book is that I wasn't sure what world it fit into. Like, the whole conceit of the the position (it's called Electric Forgiveness) and the kids finding the book is, I think, inherently funny in a 1970's kind of way. But the following chapters, the lives characters go on the lead are pretty sad and in some cases, downright depressing. I'm not saying that a book can't be both funny and depressing---probably the best books are, but somehow the world Wolitzer creates in The Position felt off kilter. I wasn't sure where I was to put it simply.

So, I'm going to take a mini breather from Wolitzer but I will read The Ten Year Nap sooner rather than later. This week I might try to read a comic that N. thinks is the bomb.