The Female Persuasion: The Book That Brought Me Out of My Reading Slump

It's been a slow month of reading for me. I started the month with a couple of slow, not particularly uplifting books and then simply didn't feel the desire to read. Luckily, I chose to read Meg Wolitzer's The Female Persuasion in hopes of turning the tides of my May reading. You've probably seen this book on every bookish page and corner, with it's beautiful cover and thick spine. This book captivated me from the very beginning - I connected with the characters, and I loved Wolitzer's writing style. I didn't rush through the story like I do a lot of others because I wanted to sit with it and enjoy it. The Female Persuasion will definitely be one of my favorite books of 2018.

Wolitzer tells her story in four parts, and deeply follows four characters throughout the 456 pages. First there's Greer Kadetsky, who is a college freshman when we meet her. She's a student at Ryland, a state school because her parents didn't complete her Yale financial aid paperwork properly, while her equally brilliant boyfriend Corey thrives at Princeton. Corey Pinto grew up down the street from Greer and fell for her their senior year of high school when the two became inseparable. Greer leans on Corey completely, having been an only child with distant parents and no long-lasting girlfriends until she meets Zee Eisenstat at Ryland on her first day. Zee is an independent, outspoken activist and lesbian that plants the seeds of feminism in Greer that will change her life forever. After Greer is sexually assaulted at her first college party in a fraternity house, Zee takes Greer to hear Faith Frank speak on campus. Faith is in her sixties, but is known around the world for her work at Bloomer, a Feminist magazine, and for her fight for women's rights. Greer is impacted forever by Faith's words, and their encounter catapults her into a life of feminism and working for gender equality.

So, these are our four characters - Greer, Corey, Zee and Faith. We follow them for over a decade and see their successes, their trials and their heartbreak. Greer never loses her doting admiration for Faith Frank, reaching out to her when she can't find a job post-college graduation. Greer and Corey dream of finally living together once they have their degrees and move to New York, but Corey's job placement switches quite suddenly from New York to Manila and their long distance relationship just gets extended. Zee, the daughter of two conservative judges in New York, has trouble finding her way after Ryland. She is an activist through and through, but finds herself living at home and working as a paralegal in the city. Faith, having served as an editor for Bloomer for nearly thirty years, wakes up one day to find the magazine has closed and she is unemployed. When an venture capital firm decides to create and invest in a women's foundation, Faith is the clear choice to head the group. These story lines are tangled and intertwined, and the characters face tragedy and complications - but their resilience and fight are what make their stories beautiful.

 What I loved about this book is that there are female "heroes," and they didn't have to overcome rape, domestic abuse, etc. to be considered as such. All of the books I've loved have this theme of heroines, but in almost every story these women have to overcome a terrible disaster or struggle, usually at the hands of men, before they get their hero status (My Absolute Darling, The Great Alone, Les Miserables, to name a few.) In The Female Persuasion,  there are strong men and women fighting the good fight, working to improve the world for women every day. Greer knows what she stands for, and while she does make mistakes, she never loses sight of her core values. Faith is able to see around shady business decisions and corruption to try and find ways to benefit women anyway. Corey drops everything to take care of his mother, and Zee never stops taking care of others and their trauma. They are everyday champions for women, and they are heroes, too. 

I loved every page of this book. Wolitzer wrote relatable and likable characters in a style that had me reading 20 pages when I only intended to read five. If you enjoy female leads, deep character development, and intertwining plots, this would be a great summer read to consider. Happy reading!