The Wife starring Glenn Close: Based on the book by Meg Wolitzer #book2movie #timesup

‘‘As a rule, the men who own the world are hyperactively sexual, though not necessarily with their wives.’’ The Wife, Meg Wolitzer

I’ve just started reading Meg Wolitzer’s The Wife; the screen adaptation starring Glenn Close is due out on August 17th. It’s an extremely short book weighing in at 218 pages but at a mere sixteen pages in, I know I’m in for a female-empowered ride. Published way, way back in 2003, it feels right for our #MeToo #TimesUp times, proving I suppose, that the road to real equality is two steps forward, one step back. 

Here’s how the publisher puts it ...

‘Meg Wolitzer brings her characteristic wit and intelligence to a provocative story about the evolution of a marriage, the nature of partnership, the question of a male or female sensibility, and the place for an ambitious woman in a man’s world.

The moment Joan Castleman decides to leave her husband, they are thirty-five thousand feet above the ocean on a flight to Helsinki. Joan’s husband, Joseph, is one of America’s preeminent novelists, about to receive a prestigious international award, and Joan, who has spent forty years subjugating her own literary talents to fan the flames of his career, has finally decided to stop. From this gripping opening, Meg Wolitzer flashes back to 1950s Smith College and Greenwich Village and follows the course of the marriage that has brought the couple to this breaking point—one that results in a shocking revelation. 

With her skillful storytelling and pitch-perfect observations, Wolitzer has crafted a wise and candid look at the choices all men and women make—in marriage, work, and life.

Check out this powerful trailer and pay close attention to the exchange between the young Joan Castleman and Elaine Mozell (Elizabeth McGovern) 

‘Don't ever think that you can get their approval.

Whose? 

The men. The ones who decide who gets to be taken seriously.

A writer has to write.

A writer has to be read, honey. 

Powerful, yes? 

I’m excited as well about the adaptation of Wolitzer’s The Female Persuasion starring Nicole Kidman

The time is right!