The Wife by Meg Wolitzer

Published by

Sarah Ann

on

August 8, 2010

Joan Castleman is married to a successful writer. While on an airplane en route to Helsinki to attend an award ceremony on her husband’s behalf, Joan decides to leave him.

The Wife jumps between past and present, telling the story of Joan’s marriage over the course of 40 years. According to cool and collected Joan, her marriage has been quite the tumultuous experience.

Joan Castleman is an incredibly interesting and intriguing character. Her story is entertaining, sarcastic, witty, and brutally honest. I love all her monologues, which are also very clever and intimate. All these elements make The Wife addicting, and you might just breeze through this one within a few hours.

Another thing I really love about this book is that it provides an intimate glimpse into the lives of writers and their egos, and their honest reactions to fans. Mr. Castleman is super arrogant, and his persona is like lots of other authors—at least the ones I’ve interacted with in real life.

I love how the author describes everything, her descriptions are so colorful and life-like. On page 49, she says the following about Joan’s departure from Mr. Castleman’s classroom after he compliments her:

…as though I’d been given a horse tranquilizer…I glided from the office…past the bulletin boards with their flyers about summer programs in Rome and at Oxford, past the elderly English department secretary with her glass jar of hard candies.

The mention of the jar of candies is what gets me. What a cool, subtle detail, and it just paints a clear picture of the scene.

The ending of The Wife was completely unpredictable to me. I guess love makes everyone do crazy things.

Other books by Meg Wolitzer include:

What do you think about Meg Wolitzer, or what did you think about The Wife?

Last Updated on February 11, 2026 by Sarah Ann

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