THE FEMALE PERSUASION by Meg Wolitzer

This novel may be about feminism in the 21^st century or about mentors, but I got something else out of it.  For me, it’s about good people doing good work but still making very serious mistakes with major consequences for their relationships.  Greer, a college freshman, meets Faith Frank, the renowned publisher of the feminist magazine Bloomer, at the urging of her lesbian friend, Zee.  After Bloomer’s demise, Greer goes to work for Faith in another feminist venture called Loci, which has venture capital backing that may tilt the company away from its original premise.  In the meantime, Greer’s longtime boyfriend, Cory, who is really a more admirable character in the novel than any of the women, experiences the worst family tragedy imaginable.  His only fault, that I can see, is his inability to include Greer as part of his healing process.  Greer commits one very egregious sin, but Faith, larger than life throughout the book, shows that she is capable of inflicting pain in the interest of vengeance.  Faith also realizes that compromise may be required in order to champion her cause of equality for women.  In other words, I think she feels that the end justifies the means, even if she loses a few supporters along the way.  I thought the conflicts in this book were thought-provoking, particularly the life-changing decision that Cory has to make.  However, I think shaving 100 pages would make this a better novel.  On the plus side, the author does an excellent job of presenting the perspectives of Greer, Zee, Faith, and Cory, without making the novel choppy or hard to follow.  Ultimately, each character has a story worth telling, and each of them faces a life-defining crossroads.