The Ten-Year Nap Reviews

• Meg Wolitzer really "gets it"

  
  By ATLHJGM86ZZMF on 2008-03-31
  It's been a while since I've reviewed anything on Amazon but I just wanted to say how much I loved this book. I devoured it in a weekend and found myself stopping my husband in whatever he was doing to read him random bits and snippets, mostly because Meg Wolitzer so perfectly summed up so many of the sentiments I myself had felt during the years I stayed home with my kids.
  
  For example, there's a passage near the beginning where one of the characters talks about picking up a newspaper like the New YOrk Times and reading yet another profile of a high-powered women who "does it all." And Meg Wolitzer writes (I'm paraphrasing) that 'she wished there was something like an asterisk at the end of the article which referred you to a box at the bottom of the page which explained the backstory, what the real deal was.' And that's EXACTLY how I felt the whole time I was trying to juggle life in the foreign service with raising little kids and being pregnant. Everytime I caught a glimmer of someone who somehow or other effortlessly did it all, you'd start to talk to them and they'd say something like "Well, actually it was easy. You see, my mother had recently retired and she was widowed so she moved to Botswana for eight years and watched my kids for me while I climbed up through the ranks to become Ambassador" or "Well, actually they're my stepchildren. My husband is actually forty years older than I am, so by the time I became a "mom", the kids had already graduated from college" or something.
  
  There are just these little MOMENTS throughout the book where I found myself exclaiming "yes, yes. she really understands. I'm not alone. I'm not crazy." Another example -- she describes the insecure mom picking up the child at school and the child is in first grade and the mom finds herself checking out all the books the other kids are reading, trying to figure out if her child is where she should be in her reading. It's like we all do these things but never admit them, and then Meg Wolitzer comes along and writes this book -- and you realize it's not just you.
  
  I really hope this book gets people talking -- especially the dialogue between the main character and her earnest Canadian feminist mother who can't understand how the women's movement could have ended up at this point. This is just a great book!
  
  

• brilliant, timely, funny -- she just nails it

  
  By AGENOAOS412LY on 2008-03-27
  I bought this book yesterday after hearing the author on NPR with Terry Gross and seeing the profile of her in the New York Times and was up most of the night (and half of the morning) finishing this unbelievably good novel up, though i was a little teed off my bookstore didn't have the book until yesterday (publishers, what is the matter with you?). Wolitzer has everything you want in a writer -- it's like having a conversation with an unbelievably perceptive, wickedly amusing, but also on the inside serious person. And this novel takes a hard and entirely convincing look at the issues and the dilemmas facing women today. should they work or not work? is a woman's role to take care of her kids and can you "have it all" and if you do, does that mean something has to be sacrificed (your marriage, your relationship with your kids, your work?). i have never seen a book tackle something like this before in such a believable way (and i'm a guy, so this isn't really a topic that should interest me much, but I see it in my wife and in just about every woman i know and work with). so all in all she (wolitzer) has managed to carry off something pretty impossible in my opinion -- a page turner that's also a wonderful, beautifully written read. how often can you say that about a book? 5 stars all the way.
  
  

• Provides perceptive insights into motherhood

  
  By A1POFVVXUZR3IQ on 2008-03-27
  I had heard good things about this latest offering by Meg Wolitzer, and the subject matter is something close to my heart. After reading it, I must say it's been an engaging and perceptive read.
  
  I used to teach school for 8 years before getting married and starting a family, and then opted to stay home to raise my daughter [for the past three years], but as she grows and develops, I too am beginning to wonder " What now for me?". Don't get me wrong - I am content and happy to stay home with my child, but I am also thinking of my future and how I can potentially balance motherhood with my other passions, like teaching etc. Having come from generations of women who opted to be stay-at-home moms, and having seen the fruits of their labors, it has been a difficult decision for me to make. Meg Wolitzer's book, though a work of fiction, encapsulates the struggles that many mothers go through as they grapple with that difficult, potentially life-altering decision - give up one's career [for a while or perhaps longer] or continue working [and how does one juggle the many responsibilities that entails?].
  
  The four main characters - Amy, Karen, Jill and Roberta, look forward to their daily meet-up at a cafe, The Golden Horn and share the joys and tribulations of life, family and especially motherhood. These are women who had successful careers before giving their careers up to fulfill the demands of motherhood. Ten years have passed and as their children develop a level of independence, they begin to take stock of their situation.
  
  Their journey is an interesting one, and makes for an involving read - it will appeal to those who have been in a similar situation, and for those who just want some perspective on motherhood and the many challenges that entails. In Meg Wolitzer's capable hands, we are able to not just enjoy the stories of the four protagonists, but also to define the meaning of motherhood, the choices it places before us, and how those choices affect our lives.
  
  

• I liked it but...

  
  By ANH8VL45X2L1S on 2008-04-06
  ...there sure was an awful lot of whining going on. I wasn't particularly "taken" by most of the characters, self-involved women (and some men), living mainly on New York City's Upper East and West Sides. The main character, Amy, had a lawyer-husband and a 10 year old son. She had stopped working as a lawyer when her son was born and seemed to miss working, but not enough to stop whining about it and go back to work. Her mother was a proto-feminist, based in Toronto. Other characters, mothers of sons who attended an elite day school, drifted through the story.
  
  Amy's closest friend from college - the daughter of a suicide - had left Manhattan for a leafy suburb in either New Jersey or New York, with her husband and adopted daughter from Russia. The daughter was not quite "with-it" and the mother felt little emotional connection with the child.
  I kept waiting for the parents to have an "aha" moment and take the kid to be tested. Nope, didn't happen til the end.
  
  Other friends had other "issues". I basically wanted to slap them all and say "quit whining and do something".
  
  I would advise not investing a great deal of time or money in this book. If you haven't already bought it, wait til it's out in trade paper or borrow it from the library.
  
  
  

• Not What You'd Imagine

  
  By A1TYR7IR1UZNVO on 2008-04-18
  The write up for this book is much better than the book itself. You'd think you'd be able to find something interesting about at least one of the multiple characters in this book. Guess again. I found the "concept" of the book to be something interesting, but found all these women, and the things they went through dull, boring and predictable. I seriously would not recommend it at all.
  
  
• Read this book
  By A38LLOTTOR8X9M on 2008-03-27
  I can't say enough great things about the Ten Year Nap. It is, foremost, a terrific read--fascinating, funny, riveting, and entertaining. But it is more than that, too: it is a provocative look at what it's like to be a mother today: is it possible to fulfill one's obligations to family and still have an interesting, meaningful life? This is the important subject of this book. I really loved The Ten Year Nap (and I'm not a mother).
  
  
  
  
• Good writing, some good moments, but ultimately unreadable
  By A36JN6NLUSYZK9 on 2008-04-25
  Clearly, Wolitzer is a writer. Her turn of phrase is beautiful and there are times when she perfectly describes motherhood in ways that make you want to copy it down and put it on the fridge. However, I could not commit to a book where the structure is a meandering, musing, retrospective narrative with very little active plot.
  
  100 pages in, I put it down and doubt I will pick it up again.
  
  Basically, you meet various mothers and they muse upon their entire history before children, then they think about the early years and their entrance into motherhood, and then they think about their current situation (with which they are dissatisfied--this is not a feel good book per se).
  
  The tag line for this book could be "I'm a mother, therefore I think and think and think and think and am unhappy."
  
  The whole book is one big retrospective thought.
  
  I really don't care if a character failed graduate school, or if a lawyer was ambivalent about law neither of these things appeared to be relevant to me as a reader.
  
  Then there's a bizarre detour into the life of Margaret Thatcher's assistant and Thatcher's views on feminism.
  
  Then another bizarre detour where the women of the previous generation invite a guidance counselor to their home to show them her genitalia.
  
  And then we're back to the present world where one of the moms confides to one of the other moms that she's having an affair.
  
  Huh?
  
  I couldn't find the connection, the common thread that linked all of this into an active plot and ultimately I lost interest in continuing to try.
  
  Also, as a new stay-at-home-mom myself who gave up a promising career, I hope there's more to being a mom than being lost and adrift in a sea of low self-esteem ten years from now. Talk about a downer, this book really has nothing good to say.
  
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• I Threw the book away it was so bad
  By A1X7VMS1FP8NM5 on 2008-05-31
  This book was given to me, and I actually threw it away. I plowed through about half of it, hoping it would get better until my husband asked me if I was enjoying my book. I realized how painful it was, and realized I couldn't subject anyone else to it, so I threw it away. The writing was tedious, the subject matter was predictable. The women in the story were so bored they were having affairs--is that all there is to look forward to if you decide not to work and stay home with your children? I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.
  
  
• "Not working did not mean that you did nothing."
  By AC1K4OQOZ90RS on 2008-04-25
  Meg Wolitzer's "The Ten-Year Nap" focuses on four women who dropped out of the labor force to become full-time mothers. Ten years pass and each of them takes stock of her life and wonders if she made the right decision. Amy Lamb has been married for thirteen years to Leo Buckner, a commercial litigator. They are barely staying afloat financially; Leo's salary just about covers their rent, their son's tuition, and the high cost of everything in Manhattan. Jill Hamlin and her husband, Donald, left New York City for the leafy suburb of Holly Hills. When Jill failed to conceive, the couple adopted a little girl from Siberia who may have developmental problems. Roberta Sokolov lives with her puppeteer husband and their two kids in a walk-up. Her career as a budding painter never materialized, and she uses her talents to help her children create elaborate arts and crafts projects. Karen Tang is a blissful homemaker who worships her successful husband, Wilson Yip, and claims to love not having to work outside the home. She feels this way in spite of her amazing intellectual gifts. Karen is a math whiz who could make a fortune as a statistical analyst; she goes for job interviews every few weeks but never accepts any of the positions offered to her by prestigious firms.
  
  Raising a child is an important and fulfilling job, unless you believe that it isn't. Sometimes, spending your time having a bite with the ladies, shopping for asparagus, packing lunches, and listening to your husband tell you about his day can be wearying. When Amy befriends Peggy Ramsey, a beautiful and accomplished museum director, she cannot help but be jealous of this lovely creature who "possessed power in the hard-shelled armed male world." Although Peggy seems to have it all, she also risks it all when she embarks on a reckless love affair. Except for Karen, the stay-at-home moms are stagnating emotionally and fear that they will never manage to reach their full potential. At times, they feel unappreciated and discontented.
  
  Using flashbacks, Wolitzer contrasts the lives of her protagonists with those of their mothers before them: Amy's Canadian mom, Antonia, was a progressive thinker and novelist; Jill's mother, Susan, was a severely depressed former actress; Karen's mother toiled in a restaurant kitchen in San Francisco; and Roberta's mother and her husband ran a company that created unusual centerpieces for banquets. Contemporary women have been sold a bill of goods about having it all, but that is a blatant lie, Wolitzer suggests. The "fruits of feminism" have not completely ripened. "Men and women [are] still both evolving," and it might take another generation or even longer for true equality of the sexes to become the norm. In an eloquent passage, Amy's mother declares: "We were the early ones. I know we got some things wrong, but we did try to do right by everyone. And now I guess it's out of our hands."
  
  The author gets many things right. Her prose is precise and carefully calibrated, her central characters are beautifully defined, and she has an intuitive feel for the cadences of life in New York City, before and after 9/11. Wolitzer asks: How long should a woman stay at home with the children, if indeed she should stay at home with them at all? How can a man and women who barely see one another (and have less in common as time goes by) keep their marriage from growing stale? Are adult women invariably the product of their mothers' attitudes, experiences, and expectations? What are the pluses and minuses of city versus suburban living? There are no easy answers but these questions are well worth raising.
  
  "The Ten-Year Nap" is a witty, stylish, and often moving novel that deals intelligently with family, work, and the stresses of modern living. Even minor characters stand out. For instance, a divorcee named Geralynn Freund is aggressively anorexic; she is "frightening in her rapaciousness for exercise" and has arms like twigs. She is proud of her "eating difference," which she considers to be just another lifestyle choice. Like an anthropologist among a little known species, the author trains her lens mercilessly on her characters' self-centeredness. These are middle-class women who spend a great deal of time whining because they have enough time on their hands to obsess about their problems. Still, Wolitzer makes them so human and vulnerable that we hesitate to judge them harshly. She also celebrates the joys of female bonding. This is a wry and clever novel that examines our tendency to long for what we do not have and to take for granted what we do have. Most of Wolitzer's protagonists eventually wake up from their naps, and it's entertaining to watch them do so.
  
  
  
• Liberal view of stay-at-home moms
  By A3838WBAJ9DD5J on 2008-05-05
  I did not enjoy the book. The book should have a warning label..."Conservatives beware!" As a stay-at-home mom in my mommy years and the mother of a stay-at-home mom, I was uncomfortable (and at times angry) reading this book. I don't think it paints a true picture. It does, however, paint the picture liberals want the world to see. There were times in the book that left-wing politics weren't as obvious, and I enjoyed those parts of the book. The author is obviously very intelligent and talented...too bad her anti-war, anti-Bush, extreme feminist views were so overbearing.
  
  
• Not A Great Read
  By A3MYGQZQRRXZAT on 2008-05-10
  I was so looking forward to reading this book! As a working mother of an 18 month old, the title and premise of the book really intrigued me, and I was so excited at the prospect of curling up with this book. And now I can honestly say I wish that I had read any of the other books I bought. I really feel like this SHOULD have been a better book.
  
  Meg Wolitzer is an eloquent writer and, as other reviewers have noted, her phrasing choices are wonderful (her descriptions of alarm clocks going off all over the city is particularly deft). However, in a book that revolves around the choices of four friends who meet regularly, there is a startling dearth of actual dialogue in this story. It seems that all of the characters have these internal conversations and, after a while, there is too much imagery and not enough conversation.
  
  And then there were the characters. Amy, Jill, Karen, and Roberta had all left the work force at a high point at their career, and want to feel lucky, blessed even that they are able to do so, but instead feel trapped into staying home with their children of varying levels of independence. I should have known I was in trouble when I couldn't make any investment in ANY character. Each of them seemed to be in their season of discontent, for a myriad of reasons, but I found it hard to care about any of them, most of them stopping just short of selfish. The most promising subplot of the book -- Amy's friendship with Penny - a friendship based on a juicy secret, and the invitation into a life that seems so satisfying. This portion is written so carefully, so lovingly, I'm with Wolitzer as she explores their friendship, but then it is dropped so quickly (and rather absurdly, in my opinion). The last 25 pages of the book provide tidy endings for everyone, and I wondered what the point of it all was in the first place.
  
  I wouldn't recommend this book.
  
  
  
• Would not recommend
  By A1OYSWV93ZIDKJ on 2008-06-01
  I haven't any reasoning as to why I purchased the book to begin with, I guess I just wanted a quick escape or the sort. The book is boring to say the least; it's totally unoriginal and uninspiring. Usually, I tend to take something from everything I read, like a message of hope or triumph against all odds. I got nothing from this book!!!! To sum it all up, it's the story of wanna be bored-Stepford wives-on-mediciation who do nothing all day except talk about other people b/c their own lives were oh just so boringly inescapable. Get a clue!
  
  
• Reads like an extended magazine article.
  By A1RUIDLXK81YGR on 2008-05-04
  Wolitzer is a good writer and some of the images really hit the mark (I should know - I've been home with my kids since 1999). But ultimately it felt like she was just skimming the surface of what is possible. It was a quick read, but I'm not recommending it to my friends.
  
  
• The Ten-Year Nap
  By A1EKZX6QI0YW2T on 2008-05-19
  The Ten-Year Nap
  I bought 7 copies of this book for a book club. To put it nicely.... it was a struggle to get through. It made me feel like taking a nap. The other book club members seem to feel the same way. Would NOT recommend this book to anyone.
  
  Bored in Bridgewater!
  
  
• Frustrations (2.75 *s)
  By A1LKSZ9CYJ6829 on 2008-06-12
  The feminist dictum urged women to take their rightful places in workplaces, backing down to no one. But work in organizations is hardly without its problems. In this book, four highly educated, talented women, Amy, Jill, Roberta, and Karen, have rejected work for a variety of reasons and now stay at home raising their children. Now fortyish, they are connected either from their college years or by the expensive private school that their children attend.
  
  But as it turns out, stay-at-home-motherhood also has its problems. Babies become recalcitrant children; husbands are unavailable physically and mentally; occasional job interviews demonstrate clearly the loss of job skills; etc. There are a lot of frustrations expressed by these women in their regular meetings at a NYC neighborhood café. Amy is practically mesmerized by the expansive life of Peggy, another mother at her son's school, who has a high-powered job, while raising three kids and having an intense affair.
  
  The author, to little effect, interleaves brief looks at the lives of these women in their childhoods, showing mostly that their mothers had to work harder and were less indecisive.
  
  The book has no pizzazz. The characters are not compelling or especially likeable. There is little plot. The most interesting character Peggy is written out too quickly. Roberta abandon's a high school girl who has appealed for help in becoming an artist. The book offers minimal insight concerning the frustrations of life for stay-at-home moms. Basically a disappointing book.
  
  
  
• A Brilliant Look at Modern Women's Dilemma
  By A2DFD6YRFRGXNA on 2008-04-01
  Meg Wolitzer sheds new light on the dilemma of motherhood versus careers. She takes us on a journey of discovery for four New York friends who are grappling with how to add meaning to their daily lives while they stay home and raise their children. The story tells us much about women's struggles to define themselves while juggling friendships, marriage, children and self-doubts about their worth outside of the work world. Brought up to believe they could do it all, and have it all, these friends are reluctant to leave the joy of being with their children, but afraid that their identities are disappearing with each passing year. While their ultimate answers might not be your answer, you'll enjoy following them as they determine their own true path. This book will charm you, enlighten you, and most of all, provoke the debate that lies beneath the surface for every woman. By Susan Walerstein, Author of Dancing Above the Waves
  
  
• I am so glad my book club did NOT choose this book...
  By A244Q8GA6HCCP6 on 2008-05-19
  I presented 3 books to my book club and then we voted. I really wanted to read "The 10 Year Nap" based on the NPR interview and the NYTimes review. Although we chose a different book, I insisted on reading it. I just finished it yesterday and it was terrible.
  
  I was intrigued since I have been home with my kids since 1997 and am going back to work in the next 6 months. When I presented the book to my club, we had an excellent discussion about our choices - some had stayed home, others worked part time and others worked full time for pay. After reading it, I can honestly say that our discussion would not have been any deeper.
  
  I cannot recommend this book to anyone. Yes, there are a FEW snipets that were interesting. However, for the majority of the time, all the characters do is whine and complain. Part of me wants to take them all to see a psychiatrist and get medication. They are a collection of depressed women.
  
  I reflect back on my former career and occasionally long for the comraderie of coworkers; however, I always look at my awesome children and realize that I was instrumental in their upbringing and I am thrilled that I was around for their early years. And, I always took advantage of opportunities via the children's activities, where I could shine and participate in volunteer situations. Now, I look forward to earning money again while continuing to raise them.
  
  I could have written a more complete and UPLIFTING novel than "The 10 Year Nap". I found it depressing, discouraging and lacking in substance.
  
  The absolute worst part was the final paragraph. So hokey and predictable. I am sad, since I SOOOO looked forward to reading this book.
  
  Save yourself some time and don't bother to read it.
  
  
• Couldn't get into it
  By AZQEH0M4K6UWI on 2008-06-21
  I really wanted to like this book, since, as a working mother of two, work-life balance is a subject near and dear to me, but I just didn't care enough about the characters and had to force myself to finish it. I also kept waiting for some kind of point of view, or a stand to be taken, but the book sort of rambles along and there really isn't a definitive position from anyone, which I guess is indicative of the dilemma that a lot of women are in today but I was hoping for more from the book. Also there are many asides involving tangential characters that I didn't think added to the book. I would wait until this comes out on paperback or try to borrow it if you can.
  
  
• Bo-ring
  By AM6BXGKPLN7LO on 2008-07-04
  I too expected and wanted to love this book but found it unbearably dull. It's the book I would have written if I were a writer. That's why I'm a lawyer.
  
  
• couldn't relate
  By A3AFHE5A41CX34 on 2008-04-24
  I was excited to read this book because I am now a stay-at-home mom after years of trying to find some kind of workable balance between having a career and raising my children. Ms. Wolitzer does capture some moments that resonated with my experience -- like the difficulty in defining yourself when you get that dreaded question, "so what do you do?" However, none of these women ever came to life for me. It seemed to me that the author had interviewed a bunch of stay-at-home mothers and then created four composite characters from the answers she received.
  
  I don't expect that characters in a novel will be likable or will make the same kind of choices I would make, but spending time with the characters in The Ten-Year Nap was a bit depressing, and often boring. And I just couldn't relate to the two women who, with kids in school and serious financial difficulties at home, would choose to do nothing at all or just dabble in volunteer work rather than attempt to make some kind of financial contribution to the family.
  
  
• Moments of greatness, but lacking a real plot
  By A2PN65B6BSTIYZ on 2008-05-28
  Like many of the other reviewers that have posted here, I was excited to read Meg Wolitzer's new novel "The Ten Year Nap" after reading a profile on the author in the New York Times and hearing a story about her on NPR. I've always been interested in women's issues, and as a young career woman who is thinking about starting a family, the relationship between child rearing and career is a topic of particular interest for me.
  
  There were moments in this book that were great, particularly when Wolitzer was getting inside a character's head or writing a flashback to a previous generation of women (which I thought was a great technique to show the difference between these women's mother's lives, where they were fighting for women's rights and the women's lives in a post-feminist era).
  
  But overall this book lacked the key to any really good novel, a coherent narrative thread. The lack of a basic plot made this novel very slow at times and hard to read. Everytime I thought the author was introducing the key narrative, it faded quickly. It wasn't really until the end of the book, when several of the main characters take action to remedy the problems in their lives that the book starts to feel like its going somewhere, and then its over.
  
  This book felt very literary and very serious. I wouldn't say I hated it, but I didn't love it either. I would not recommend it for a summer read or a book club, but maybe it would be good for a Women in Literature class in a Women's Studies program at a college.
  
  
• Wolitzer's detailed writing is crisp and lovely
  By A2F6N60Z96CAJI on 2008-04-03
  Despite the hard work --- both physical and emotional --- that it takes to be a mother caring for her children full time, some people still ask that burning question: "What do you do all day?" The ironies and paradoxes of the stay-at-home mom are the focus of Meg Wolitzer's latest novel, THE TEN-YEAR NAP.
  
  Not napping but raising children are four ladies, diverse in interests and background who came to know each other because their sons attended the same Manhattan private school. Each was once a career woman who chose to be home with the kids at least until she was older. They are Karen, a mathematician; Roberta, an artist and activist; Jill, a film producer; and at the center, a lawyer named Amy. They meet many mornings at the Golden Horn for breakfast and coffee, and to commiserate and inspire each other.
  
  Karen is happy and still deeply in love with her husband, as is Roberta. Yet Roberta wishes she could create art like she used to. Jill has recently moved out of the city to the suburbs and feels lonely and isolated from her friends. Amy, Jill's closest pal, is feeling a bit restless but begins to feed off the energy of another mom, Penny Ramsey, who seems to have it all. Amy's brief friendship with Penny, based on a secret, draws her away from the others until a disastrous shared vacation brings her back solidly into their fold. Wolitzer keenly explores the fragility of adult female friendships as well as the bonds and loyalties.
  
  But the real story is about motherhood --- how it both changes and solidifies who you are. It's not merely about "opting out" of the workforce but about women trying to avoid opting out of the activities and thoughts that are essential to them and contribute to their identity both as a mother and beyond that role. By occasionally leaving her present-day story and briefly looking at the mothers of her protagonists when they were young parents themselves, Wolitzer examines the promise and realities of feminism and the role of intergenerational expectations. She also neatly throws in some thought-provoking glimpses into the role and responsibilities of today's dads.
  
  Despite a few unsuccessful but very short tangents, THE TEN-YEAR NAP is an intelligent book. Wolitzer's detailed writing is crisp and lovely (although it does suffer a touch as the novel goes on and the characters are fleshed out), and her pacing is fantastic. Her protagonists feel real and sympathetic, flawed and compelling. Although working moms seem like alien creatures here and those who stay at home with no regrets are non-existent, the author for the most part does a good job discussing this hotbed of issues without seeming preachy or cavalier. Her focus is on a particular type of woman, represented in a variety of forms by Karen, Jill, Roberta and Amy, who must decide if and when to return to work and in what type of job they will find fulfillment and purpose.
  
  It is in the small moments of her characters' lives where Wolitzer's writing really shines: the hectic mornings getting children dressed for school, the quiet distance between husbands and wives, the moments of self-doubt and frustration, the times of simple joys, the momentary but profound realization that time is marching forward and that one's mark is made through action or inaction. THE TEN-YEAR NAP captures these well and engrosses the reader, making for an overall satisfying read.
  
  --- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
  
  
• Good premise, but nothing ever happens
  By A1Q4Z4F5MIYVYM on 2008-04-28
  Basically, the book relates the mental life of a medley of women with kids as they go about their business, struggling with the fact that they don't work, they're kids are growing up, and various and sundry other issues. It starts well and there are many places where Wolitzer shows she "gets" the inner life of mothers. Sadly, though, the book comes to not much, as the only major plot line comes to a bit of a minor "pop" and then fizzles. All quite pleasant but very light.
  
  
• Fascinating premise but not a fascinating read
  By AQYSP84K0LRAP on 2008-06-23
  I really wanted to like this book--in fact, I suggested it for my book club, a group of eight moms with small kids, some of us working, some of us not. For some reason, though, I couldn't relate to the characters--and if anyone should relate to women considering going back to the working world after a long hiatus, it would be me (someone who just went through, well, exactly what Amy Lamb went through.) But I found Amy's "crush" irritating--perhaps because I didn't get what was so appealing about Penny--found Jill to be cold, and was very, very annoyed that Roberta and Karen were so stereotypically ethnic. (The big nose on the Jewish woman; the math whiz Asian with an overbearing, straight out of the Joy Luck Club mom.) So it wasn't a hit with me. I also didn't find the "shocking event" to be particularly believable--or to care much about it, given my apathy for the characters.
  
  
• Novel with Depth
  By A2MB8VQSTCA7M0 on 2008-05-28
  What a relief to read a book that so clearly and beautifully delineates the differences between men and women. And does so with so many passages and tales that are both funny and yet contain great wisdom on everything from one husband's "informal, condensed seder" to another wife's struggles with the surprises inherent in raising a child with both disabilities and talent. There are some big important "moments," all beautifully rendered. But I also lived for the small pictures that showed so much: The lyrical section on Magritte's wife and model, for example. This is Meg Wolitzer's best and most intricate book yet. May she write many more.
  
  
• feminism and choices
  By A3GWVB80CNOSN8 on 2008-05-29
  Chapters in this novel alternate between the modern-day lives of a group of women in New York City, all of whom have left careers behind to raise their children, and stories of their mothers or other women from an earlier generation, all of whom are feminists in their own way.
  
  Wolitzer is telling us two things, I think. First, by contrasting the lives of mothers in the 1960s and '70s with those of their daughters in the late '90s and early 21st century, Wolitzer asks questions about what happened to the feminism that the earlier generation fought for. Is it lost because the next generation chose not to take advantage of it, or is it preserved because each woman has the choice, within her own family circumstances, of whether to work or not, and is not pushed into the role of stay-at-home-mom, merely because that's what is "done"?
  
  And by looking at the lives of women who have been out of the workforce for about 10 years, she is able to describe the rewards as well as the drawbacks to that choice for different women. Wolitzer is not shy about describing either. Some of her characters feel incredibly rewarded by being able to stay home with their children, others are more ambivalent. Some continually toy with the idea of going back to work, while one is eventually forced to go back to work because of financial issues.
  
  Although this novel sometimes reads as a series of vignettes or even interviews, Wolitzer brings it all together for a satisfying conclusion. Wolitzer looks at each character and each situation in a thoughtful way. This book is never preachy or judgmental, but is a gently told story about characters who are each sympathetic in their own way.
  
  
• Ten Year Nap a Five Star Winner
  By A3LT1186FP8ILV on 2008-06-02
  I picked up "Ten Year Nap" on a friend's recommendation. I'm male, and certainly not an out-of-the-workplace mom, so I didn't begin reading "Ten Year Nap" in hopes of finding characters I identified with. What I did find was a funny, insightful book that held me every second, with some hilarious writing and great storytelling. I loved reading it and I loved quoting the zinger lines to friends. (If I can't be as witty as Meg Wolitzer, at least I can quote her.) This book is smart, funny, insightful, emotional in all the right ways -- suddenly this is sounding sounds like I'm writing an ad for my dream date. Hmm. Well, I guess it's not the first time I've fallen in love with a book.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Enjoyed the book; hated the characters
  By A6X2O1FXSPEHI on 2008-08-04
  I easily finished the book in one weekend because I think Wolitzer is a fine writer who knows how to spin a story. However, my dislike for these characters prevents me from recommending it. I might be able to tolerate 350 pages of whining if the characters actually had something to whine about, but that's not the case here.
  
  For example, Roberta stays at home in a rent-free apartment while her kids are in school and her good-natured husband works two jobs. In the meantime, she's grumbling about the male-artist hierarchy that has apparently ruined her life .... Huh?? If you ask me, all of these characters need a good swift kick in the pants. Or some real problems.
  
  Another odd aspect of this book is how little the children actually factor into the story. None of these self-absorbed moms seem to have meaningful relationships with their children, who are hardly described at all. I kept hoping Nadia, the little girl from Romania, would be adopted by a family that actually cared about her.
  
  This book provided a few good insights and interesting plot twists. But in the end, it painted an unrealistic picture of life for a stay-at-home mom---filled with seething discontent, oppression, frustration, boredom and lost promise ... Depressing.
  
  
• A wonderful read
  By AUICK2BKIPZ5B on 2008-04-03
  Meg Wolitzer's latest work "The Ten-Year Nap" is a terrific read that I simply could not put down. Her characters are very well fleshed out, and the story line of women and parenting vs. career is timely. I highly recommend this one.
  
  The editor of Michele Cozzens' award winning women's fiction A Line Between Friends
  
  
• Subtle and insightful New York story
  By AJYAP16TKAHS1 on 2008-04-26
  This book contains beautiful observations on the experience of motherhood, marriage, and friendship between women. Many passages resonated with me in profound ways. I would not read it as some have--as a text on the contemporary dilemmas facing women. This is very much an upper class New York story and the basic work/life choices that these women take themselves to be confronted with bear very little resemblance to the choices and dilemmas faced by myself and my circle of female friends. The main characters, interestingly, are more confined by their passive, yet persistent desire for the status and money than they are by any kind of tug of war between mothering and a genuine longing to work. The book aimed to capture four distinctive characters along with several others that kind of blip through, but to me, it nevertheless seemed speak with only a single melancholy, yet original and compelling voice. I found it somewhat distracting to see the effort to delineate the characters rely so heavily on stereotype--we are reminded several times that the Jewish woman has a big nose and the Asian woman lacks imagination and a capacity to understand emotional nuance. This book does capture something, though, about a particular dimension of our generation that I have not seen captured so well anwhere else and I enjoyed reading it.
  
  

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