The Ten-Year Nap

Name: The Ten-Year Nap
Brand: Blackstone Audiobooks
Availability: InStock
Author: Meg Wolitzer
ISBN: 9781602833746

Author: Meg Wolitzer

Narrator: Alyssa Bresnahan

Unabridged: 13 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 03/27/2008

Categories: Fiction, Women

Synopsis

For a group of four New York friends, the past decade has been largely defined by marriage and motherhood. Educated and reared to believe that they would conquer the world, they then left prestigious jobs to stay home with their babies. What was meant to be a temporary leave of absence has lasted a decade. Now, at age forty, with the halcyon days of young motherhood behind them and without professions to define them, Amy, Jill, Roberta, and Karen face a life that is not what they were brought up to expect but seems to be the one they have chosen. But when Amy meets someone who seems to have fulfilled the classic women's dream of having it all—work, love, family—without having to give anything up, a lifetime's worth of concerns, both practical and existential, opens up. As her obsession with this woman's bustling life grows, it forces the four friends to confront the choices they've made—until a series of startling events shatters the peace and, for some of them, changes the landscape entirely.

About Meg Wolitzer

American author, Meg Worlitzer, has been the first author to participate in a coast to coast book club discussion via Skype. That would seem to be a great way to promote her work most advantageously. The work discussed was The Uncoupling. Meg was born in 1959 in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother was also a novelist and her dad, a psychologist. She graduated from Smith College and Brown University in creative writing. Her first writing was accomplished during undergrad, entitled, Sleepwalking, a tale of three college girls who were obsessed with poetry and death, and was published in 1982.

Her novels include: The Interestings, The Uncoupling, The Year Nap, The Position, The Wife, and Sleepwalking. These were all on the New York Times-bestselling list. She also co-authored a cryptic crossword book, and has taught creative writing in several important venues. Three films have evolved from her writings, including This Is Your Life, scripted and directed by Nora Ephron.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Susan on March 31, 2008

I almost didn't agree to reviewing The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer because I was wary of the subject matter: stay at home mothers. I tend to get all prickly and weird around this topic because it is SO loaded and I realize that even though I have often BEEN at home during my children's lives, I do......more

Goodreads review by Erika on April 29, 2008

I wanted so much to give this book five stars. It was soooooo good for the first 300 pages, talking about the nuances of motherhood, feminism and women's worlds in the US as lived through four women who gather every week at a diner in New York City to talk about (in)fidelity, love, work, children, a......more

Goodreads review by Rebecca on June 22, 2008

This book is a perfect example of relativity. Looked at from a certain perspective, apparently, it is funny and sympathetic and a right on evaluation of modern motherhood. Looked at from another, there isn't a true note in it and all that humor and seeming sympathy are moot because its careless plot......more

Goodreads review by Angie on June 28, 2008

I wish I could say I didn't like this book just because I built it up in my head too much while waiting for the other 20 library holds before me, but I'm sure this isn't the only reason. The moms in this book are a world apart from the moms I associate with, and maybe I'd like this book more in anot......more

Goodreads review by Britta on January 02, 2019

Nobody can handle a big cast of characters better than Meg Wolitzer.......more

Quotes

“In The Ten-Year Nap, Meg Wolitzer uses her trademark wit and intelligence to animate questions more often posed by nonfiction: Why are many women tempted to stop working after having children? What do they gain—and lose—by doing so? The result is both a complex portrait of contemporary motherhood and an arresting dispatch from the family frontlines.” Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad

“The tartly funny Wolitzer is a miniaturist who can nail a contemporary type, scene, or artifact with deadeye accuracy.” New York Times Book Review

“Brisk and moving…Whatever you opt for, something gets cheated. That’s what’s known as the human condition. The ultimate peril is motherhood, loving someone more than you love yourself. Meg Wolitzer nails it with tenderness and wit.” O, The Oprah Magazine

“Wolitzer’s middle-aged moms are flawed: selfish, neurotic, and occasionally petty. But they—and their conflicts—feel vividly satisfyingly real.” Entertainment Weekly

“An engrossing, juicy read about girlfriends, marriages, jealousies, and money.” Salon

“Able to nail an era or emotion, snack, or sexual position with deadpan accuracy, [Wolitzer’s] the kind of writer who leaves you gulping with recognition. The well-maneuvered cast of minor characters—from schlepping husbands to anorexic single mothers—add another layer of complexity to an already rich feast.” Independent (London)

“It’s a rare novelist who can transform domestic fiction into a sustained, smart, and funny inquiry into the price of ambition, the value of work, issues of class, and the meaning of motherhood—Wolitzer is that novelist.” Booklist

“Wise, witty…A perceptive, highly pleasurable novel that serves as Wolitzer’s up-to-date answer to the old question: ‘What do women want?’” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)