RollnSmoke Reviews: THE UNCOUPLING by Meg Wolitzer

THE UNCOUPLING by Meg Wolitzer (Riverhead Books, 2011)

The plot of Meg Wolitzer’s eighth book hinges on a difficult-to-accept spell that seizes the female characters in the novel and makes them frigid. All the characters in the book converge at a suburban New Jersey high school – teachers, students, lovers, all – and the centerpiece that forwards the plot is the school community’s putting on the ancient Greek play Lysistrada, wherein the female cast members stage a sex strike in an effort to protest male warring. While there’s plenty of strong writing combined with Wolitzer’s trademark wit throughout the piece, ultimately the said chilling “spell” fails as a compelling, workable premise, especially at the goofy, melodramatic end (6.5/10).