The First Truly Great Read Of 2018!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              Much as I loved Meg Wolitzer's "The Interestings," I have to say "The Female Persuasion" is more far reaching, even if, at times, it seems an expansion on "The Devil Who Wears Prada."  It is also full of lessons, including one key lesson having been a part of my core beliefs since childhood, and which may seem at first unexpected.  I will also, for matters of discussion, have to reveal a key plot twist, so if you have any intention of reading this book--and you are urged to--stop here, and leave the rest to those of us having already read it.

                                We start with two bright kids--Greer Kadetsky and Cory Pinto, two bright kids from Smalltown Nowheresville.  Both are clearly headed for the Ivy's, but Greer has one problem. Unlike Cory, whose family is stable, which Greer envies, her parents are overaged hippies, living off the grid, and failing to understand the importance of things like filling out financial aid application forms for their daughter, in order to meet deadlines.  I can't blame this on their being hippies; I recall my own father, mainstream and Right Wing, filling these out during my application period, spouting his resentment over having to do so.

                                 Since Greer's parents screw thing up with this process, she is relegated to a less prestigious college, called Ryland, while Cory is off to Princeton.  Wolitzer's novel chronicles two lives veering off their stated paths.  Greer's transition begins, when, at college with her friend, Zee, (who is referred to by this throughout the book, but is, I imagine, short for Alexandra) a burgeoning lesbian activist, the two attend a talk by leading feminist icon, Faith Frank.  Now, Steinem is mentioned in the book, so I don't know exactly whom Faith is standing in for.  She is sixty three and glamorous, which automatically eliminates Betty Friedan, who, at half that age, was just plug ugly, falling in line with the likes of Lillian Hellman and Eleanor Roosevelt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  Let's just say Faith is tops in her field, having run a declining feminist mag called Bloomer, for years.  Over a calculated and contrived encounter, after the lecture, in the ladies' room, Zee manages to finagel Greer a meeting with Faith, which leads to the feminist taking an interest and mentoring her, much to Zee's disappointment.  This disappointment turns to a betrayal that does not get find out till near the end.  At the business Faith has newly established, and which Greer is now heavily involved in, Zee submits a letter, stating she would like to work for Faith's organization.  She gives the letter to Greer, who promises to give it to Faith...but never does. And this comes back to bite all three women later.

                                   Cory is a Princeton lad, graduates, gets a job overseas, and lives like a pig, which is how all straight millennials live--entitled Americans who make the ethnic maid clean out their semen and excrement encrusted underwear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am telling you, not even Mammy and Prissy had to put up with such nonsense, because ladies and gentlemen back then knew how to behave.  They may have used a privy or chamber pot, but they douched!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     I almost felt Cory deserved his tragedy, but when his grief was palpably real, I had to feel for him.  His life is changed in a split second, when his mother, not seeing where she is going, runs over her younger son, Cory's brother Aly, in the driveway, killing him .  At first, you want to hate the mother; the father does, going back to Europe, never returning.  The mother lapses into mental illness, and cannot care for himself, so Cory gives up the life he has, returns home, takes care of his mother, eventually doing some of her cleaning gigs, and working in a computer technology store. He eventually becomes content with this life.

                                      BUT--and here it comes--he makes one glaring, social mistake!  On the street that Greer and Cory lived on also lives Kristen Vells, the dumbest girl in their class.  She ends up working at the local pizza parlor, where she will evolve into an obese, overweight prostitute.  Why?  Because she was in their school's lowest reading group!  Let this be a lesson, girls--Never, NEVER date anyone who was in their school's lowest reading group.  Only date those in the top tier, especially if you were, as I was.   Take my word, girls; believe me, I know.  Girls who date boys of this level will end up with street garbage, while who boys who date such feminine trash may have great sex for a few years, if lucky, but that is it.  Because then she will start drinking and hooking, and the man may end up getting chlamydia.  This is what happens to low lifes like this; I have witnessed it myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                                       Of course, like all morality plays, things must inevitably fall apart, and come together, again.  As they do so, here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Faith and Greer have a parting of the ways, where the older one calls out the younger on what she did to her friend, Zee.  See, scratch a feminist, and underneath you will find a bitch, anyway!!!!!!!!!!  This puts Zee and Greer on the skids for awhile, but things get resolved there, and Cory and Greer get back, especially after his mother's mojo returns to her, after several years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           "The Female Persuasion" is absorbing and insightful. It tests feminism's expansions and limits, and shows that even icons are not perfect underneath!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             But never forget the lesson stated here, which I learned in childhood--

                                              Never go out with someone, from a lower reading group!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!