The Uncoupling [Hardcover]

Meg Wolitzer (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 5, 2011

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Ten-Year Nap, a funny, provocative, revealing novel about female desire.

When the elliptical new drama teacher at Stellar Plains High School chooses for the school play Lysistrata-the comedy by Aristophanes in which women stop having sex with men in order to end a war-a strange spell seems to be cast over the school. Or, at least, over the women. One by one throughout the high school community, perfectly healthy, normal women and teenage girls turn away from their husbands and boyfriends in the bedroom, for reasons they don't really understand. As the women worry over their loss of passion, and the men become by turns unhappy, offended, and above all, confused, both sides are forced to look at their shared history, and at their sexual selves in a new light.

As she did to such acclaim with the New York Times bestseller The Ten-Year Nap, Wolitzer tackles an issue that has deep ramifications for women's lives, in a way that makes it funny, riveting, and totally fresh-allowing us to see our own lives through her insightful lens.

Read an essay about writing The Uncoupling from the author, Meg Wolitzer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The latest from Wolitzer (The Ten Year Nap) is a plodding story with a killer hook: will the women of Stellar Plains, N.J., ever have sex again? After new high school drama teacher Fran Heller begins rehearsals for Lysistrata (in which the women of Greece refuse to have sex until the men end the Peloponnesian War), every girl and woman in the community is overcome by a "spell" that causes them to lose all desire for sex. No one is immune, not Dory Lang and her husband, Robby, the most popular English teachers at Eleanor Roosevelt High School; not Leanne Bannerjee, the beautiful school psychologist; or the overweight college counselor Bev Cutler, shackled to a callous hedge-fund manager husband. The Langs' teenaged daughter, Willa, who eventually lands the lead in the play, is also afflicted, wreaking havoc on her relationship with Fran's son, Eli. Despite the great premise and Wolitzer's confident prose, the story never really picks up any momentum, and the questions posed—about parenthood, sacrifice, expectations, and the viability of long-term relationships in the age of Twitter—are intriguing but lack wallop. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Life begins to imitate art when Stellar Plains� edgy new drama teacher decides to stage Lysistrata as the high school�s annual production. Faculty, administrators, and students alike are literally enchanted by Aristophanes� mordant antiwar comedy. Women and girls who are otherwise happily married or in a blossoming relationship suddenly decide to withhold their affections from their husbands, lovers, and boyfriends. The once passionate sex life of popular English teachers Robby and Dory Lang abruptly ends, as does the nascent relationship of their daughter Willa, who sharply breaks up with her first boyfriend. Most affected of all, however, is Marissa Clayborn, the charismatic young black girl cast in the play�s lead, who decides to stage her own �bed-in� sex strike in protest of the war in Afghanistan. When Marissa fails to appear on opening night, all hell breaks loose as spurned men storm the stage demanding the resumption of normal relations. While zestfully exploring the nexus between complacency and desire, Wolitzer�s hip, glib, impish scenario shrewdly examines the intricate connections between war and sex and perceptively illuminates the power of timeless literature. --Carol Haggas

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover; First Edition edition (April 5, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159448788X
• ISBN-13: 978-1594487880
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Sadly, Disappointing... April 24, 2011

By IRG VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I was eager to read this book, given the possibilities of the premise as set in contemporary society. Sadly, there were no real character insights or any new ideas explored here, in my opinion. And while I won't reveal the ending, let's say that it's pretty much a cop-out. (and you will probably have figured it out as well)

The way the story is set up and revealed pretty much limits the outcome, from the start. And, unlike say Practical Magic, which had me believing in some pretty implausible situations and outcomes, this story just left me shaking my head in disbelief as it progressed (you can't have it both ways; it's either a magical/mystical tale or real life. This is neither.)

The only upside for me is that it created the desire to reread Lysistrata.

It left me feeling empty and wishing there had been more, as in more of what the characters, male and female, were really thinking and feeling.

I had high hopes for this book (there have been lots of reviews that make it seem magical and insightful) but though it was a fast read, it was also rather banal. No real insights into the females (or men) here and very little real reflection on the impact of the sea-change. And the "how" of the sea-change really didn't work well as written.

This could have been so much more. I admire the author for attempting to bring light to a topic that does resonate for contemporary women--what happens when desire seems to have disappeared. And for calling attention to Lysistrata (but even that got short shrift in the book!)

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars clever premise and a fun read April 10, 2011

By bookkook

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This story moves the plot of an ancient play (Lysistrata) to modern suburban New Jersey, where it becomes magic. I thought the idea was incredibly clever when I read the review and I still do. The plot of Lysistrata is that the women of ancient Greece agree among themselves to deny any sex to the men until the Peloponnesian war is ended. Here, the same cooling effect by the women comes back in the modern suburb involuntarily, in the form of a spell when the play (edited to be more age appropriate) is staged by the local high school. The spell takes all local women one by one - cooling the ardor of teenagers, both in the passion of a first relationship and as well as those sexually active but not really sure why or whether they enjoy it. It also takes young mothers with happy relationships in spite of their weariness, women in later stages of long,happy marriages, and even middle aged women who've 'let themselves go' and were celibate or nearly so within their marriages. The way that these emotions are expressed by all of these various women as they experience the spell and the change in their desires and in their views is masterful. The reaction among the men to the loss ranges among anger, patience, sadness,fear, and barely noticing. Wherever your stage in life and whatever your experience you are overwhelmingly likely to identify with someone in this fictional town.

I was disappointed by the way that the spell was resolved, with a highly dramatic, very quick ending. It felt deflating after all of the good work and good writing that had been done to understand and express the complex emotions of these women and men. It would have been more rewarding to continue the individual perspectives in more detail and explore the emotions more fully as they recovered. Possibly it would have been a longer book, however it is a good book so you'd be happy to read it.

My other criticism is a plot line that seems half baked. Lysistrata is an expression of anti-war sentiments as well as an exploration of relationships. Uncoupling pulls the anti-war element in with a character that had recently been a local high school student, went off to war, and returned home with a life changing injury and a failed relationship. This character makes a brief appearance, something to the effect of war is bad/people get hurt/we shouldn't have war is expressed in a few pages, another character stages a protest, and the war veteran character falls out of the story shortly thereafter. Serious consideration of this topic requires moving beyond slogans and protests and individual tragedies however awful, to understanding the principles of just war, even if you choose to reject them entirely, as well as analyzing every situation. This would have been a better book if the author had fleshed out this analysis more fully or skipped this Lysistrata hook entirely.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Great idea April 21, 2011

By Hoosier Girl

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Muriel Rukeyser said that if one woman told the truth about her life the world would split open. I was hoping this would be one of those books that might, if not split open the world, at least illuminate a bit of the fault line. And to its credit, it does shed some light on the mysterious sexual chill that takes women of a certain age, in particular, by surprise. The spell, the central conceit of the book, is such a great metaphor for the exploration of women's sexuality and desire. I really wanted, was hoping for, more complex characters and more insight into that mystery.