REVIEW for The Ten Year Nap

TITLE: The Ten Year Nap

AUTHOR: Meg Wolitzer

GENRE: Contemporary Fiction

RATING: 3 Stars

The Ten Year Nap, written by Meg Wolitzer takes a look at some of the most compelling and current issues of today's generation. We ARE the generation of woman who are supposed to do it all and do it with a smile and no complaints. In this area, I was very interested in reading this novel.

Wolitzer takes her main female characters and basically explores this subject matter by showing us alternate views of each women and basically doing a pro and con of each situation. However, the main focus of this book, in my opinion, is indeed - what is the value of a woman? and does it change if she chooses to stay home with her children instead of going back to work?

Although many other readers have complained about the fact that the message that seems to be passed here is that if you have stayed home to raise your children, you have been essentially 'napping" all these years. Although I know I will not be popular for saying this, I have always believed this premise. I believe that woman who stay home, especially those who do so wayyyy after their children have been raised and are grown are doing themselves a huge disfavor - as much from a financial point of view (there is security and power in knowing you earn and have your own money)and as much from the point of view of stimulating, challenging and overall being all that you can be. Wolitzer explores this in her book and I applaud her for it.

Although the basic storyline is interesting, I found Wolitzer's writing to be a little too much at times. I would have liked her to be a little more down to earth and less flowery. Also, at times, the cast of characters seem to large - this novel was a tad too ambitious I think.