The Position: A Novel

This book has such an amazing premise. What happens to the children of parents who write a sex-tell-all/instruction-guide (think The Joy of Sex) after they discover The Book? What happens after their "so in love" parents get divorced? In 1975, the Mellow parents, Paul and Roz, write a book that celebrates their love, and their love-making. The international bestseller features the Mellows in various poses straight from the Kama Sutra in all their naked glory; including the Position they created themselves. Holly, 15, Michael, 13, Dashiell, 8, and Claudia 6, all sit down one afternoon after Michael finds The Book. And the discovery of The Book leaves the four young Mellows changed forever.

What is interesting is how it changes them all in such different ways. This is a fascinating look at how sex, love, divorce, and marriage can effect the oldest and the youngest in such varied ways. At first, I didn't think I was going to like this book, but as I continued, I became to empathize with the characters and even grew to like them. Wolitzer writes with a deft hand, giving her characters sympathy but not becoming so over handed that it grates the nerves. No sentence out of place, no plot unturned, this book is highly recommended.

When I initially read the storyline for "The Position" I laughed out loud and said, "Why not? [try it]"

The beginning chapter introduces you to the 4 children and gives some background on the parents. I kind of groaned and thought to myself, "This way too many people to get to know this early in the game." I also thought that her wording/sentence structure was initially run-on and long-winded, I found myself having to read a few sentences over.

Yet, Wolitzer later dedicates a couple chapters or so to each character. So I didn't feel bombarded w/ too much info while reading. Although some have mentioned that not all characters seemed to have completely developed, I personally think that was Wolitzer's intention for those few.

I can say that I had this book handy on a longer European motorcoach tour. This kept me amused for hours during those lengthy drives through the vineyards/alps/etc. Being from a medical background, I was impressed w/ her description/depth when called for. W/ further reading, it did become easy to follow. I enjoyed it at all angles, and thought the end had good closure to it. I really want to give this book a 4.5, but the store obviously won't let me do that. As many have already said, it really is a page-turner, I do recommend it!

The premise of this sometimes delightful book is certainly unique. I'll spare you the details, partly because I'm feeling lazy tonight, but also because other reviewers have done an admirable job of covering the basics. While reading this, I felt a wave of nostalgia (much better than waves of nausea I must say) for the innocence of the 70's - a time when kids had NO clue what went on behind the doors of their parents' bedrooms (thank God). The Mellow children could have been among the clueless, except they accidentally discovered a best-selling book their parents had created and published......and even posed for (imagine the shock here folks; remember, this was the 70's). The story then skips ahead so we get the privilege of seeing just how these kids turned out. You guessed it, they're all slightly dysfunctional (although so am I.......and my parents certainly didn't write a how-to book about sex). This was an interesting read and Wolitzer's writing boasts a quirky sense of humor. The adult children (is that an oxymoron?) were a bit one-dimensional and, at times, painfully odd. But all in all, I would recommend this book, just not to my mother.

Just what position (pardon the pun) should sex have in the family? This is the question Meg Wolitzer tackles in her latest novel. In the fall of 1975, Paul and Roz Mellow decide to write a book called 'Pleasuring: One Couple's Journey to Fulfillment.' The book, a surprise bestseller, features full-color photographs of Paul and Roz in various Kama Sutra style sexual positions--including one of the couple's own creation, "Electric Forgiveness." One rainy Saturday, the couple's four children--who range in age from six to fifteen--encounter their parents' bestseller on the top shelf of the bookcase and, curious, sit down together to see the pictoral version of what they've only heard coming from the bedroom. So begins Wolitzer's new novel, THE POSITION.

Flash-forward thirty years, when the groundbreaking work of the Mellows is about to be rereleased in a special, updated edition, complete with new illustrations. Paul and Roz have long since separated and remarried, and their children are dispersed around the country. Holly, the oldest, has settled into late motherhood in California after separating herself from her family and spending years in a drug-induced haze. Michael is uptight, depressed, and dissatisfied with his girlfriend, his antidepressants, and his job at a prominent technology firm. Dashiell, a member of the Log Cabin Republicans who works as a speechwriter for a Rhode Island senatorial candidate, is diagnosed with an aggressive form of Hodgkin's Disease. And Claudia, the youngest, is a whimsical film student at 34 with low self-esteem who still has an affinity for her troll dolls and is struggling to become an adult. THE POSITION chronicles the complicated lives of these children, who were forever altered by that afternoon in 1975 and are now struggling with their jobs, their love lives, and the unavoidable reality that they are and always will be the children of "that couple who wrote the sex book."

But this isn't a novel about sex. And it isn't a novel about family. It is a novel about sex within the context of a family. It is a novel that questions how six people, growing up in the same house, can become so different from one another. It is a novel that I absolutely loved. I've never read anything by Wolitzer before, but if THE POSITION is any indication, the rest of her novels must be fabulous. Her writing voice is distinctive, pure, unashamed, and incredibly witty; her observations are dead-on and her characters are developed with sensitivity and unabashedness (if that's a word). In parts this novel reminded me of THE CORRECTIONS, by Jonathan Franzen, which is also a novel that tackles a familial theme and the ramifications of childhood in adult life. THE POSITION is an intelligent, panoramic story about love, loss, sex, and the sustaining bonds of family, absolutely heartwrenching and laugh-out-loud funny all at once. In parts, Wolitzer's prose is absolutely breathtaking: "For children, parents aren't a two-backed beast but instead an enormous two-winged bird, each parent represented by a wing, with all the children riding on top, holding on by grabbing tufts of feathers, letting themselves be carried aloft." THE POSITION is a brave story, one that begs to be read...Read it, if not for the story, for the characters, who are some of the best I've read in a piece of contemporary fiction.

This one gets my highest recommendation.

What a terrific premise: the adult children of a couple who wrote a Joy of Sex (complete with artist-drawn illustrations) type sex manual, using themselves as models, twenty-five years later.

The book opens when the children discover their parents' book, in the seventies. That scene is hilarious and appalling, and conjures up the seventies so perfectly.

Part of the novel's forward-motion has to do with a proposed reiusse of the book-- the parents, now divorced, are divided about it, and one of the children is called upon to convince the father to go through with it. However, by this point, we seem to have left the initial subject behind somehow. All of the characters are well-drawn and sympathetic, and it's a great look at how people are defined and programmed by their childhood and their family, but at a certain point it could be any family, not just the children of the famous sex-book couple. The ending for example seemed inconclusive-- as life often is, I suppose-- but it was lacking, for me.

All in all, this book is not as perfectly cohesive and structured as Wolitzer's phenomenal The Wife, but it's still very well written and a terrific read. And for the first two-thirds of the book, it's a perceptive look at how social mores have changed since the seventies. I was a child then-- a little younger than the adult children of the novel-- and a lot of it rang so true for me. Wolitzer is an excellent writer, very vivid and sympathetic, and this is well worth a read.

I actually sought out more by this great writer after reading, "The Uncoupling" which I enjoyed if a bit less than this one. Being on a real suburban family kick of late, Ms. Wolitzer has a fine ear for dialogue and a solid sense of story development. All I could think while reading this is that some talented director needs to cast some well known actors and shoot this thing.

Somewhat reminiscent of "The Ice Storm" its depiction of the suburban seventies sex scene (alluded to, not shown) the book really captured a time and place where a hip couple might strike gold with a sex manual for everyone else.

Where the book really shines is in following the paths of the children born to this couple and how accidental or not, their parents success has affected all of their relationships and sex lives.

I had not heard of the author before reading about her most recent book (The Uncoupling) but I'm glad now to be digging into all her work.

After reading "The Wife" I was looking forward to this one ~~ and it is definitely a much lighter read but not as good as "The Wife" ~~ this one is more of a fluffier read, a look into family relationships and a look into marriages. It has some depth but it's more of a sexy book than an intellectual book ~~ and slightly morbid as if you're peeking into someone's living room at night through the crack in the curtains. I just finished this book and while it's ok, it does leave you sitting with unfinished thoughts flitting through your head.

This book focuses on the children of the famous couple who wrote a book about sex. The Mellows. (An ironic name if you think about it because none of them were mellow at all.) There's Holly, Michael, Dashiel and Claudia. All of them were influenced by their parents' successful book that they wrote in the 70s, fueled by their love for one another. Holly becomes the estranged daughter. Michael becomes a successful worker in the big Apple. Dashiel becomes a Republican and Claudia struggles to find her own voice in the world. Their parents, Roz and Paul separated and divorced a couple of years after the book was published and this is their story.

It is interesting reading, but not something you want to keep in your library forever ~~ maybe it's because there are so many other books out there that are like that. It's good reading and perfect if you're looking for something quick to read ~~ but don't expect it to be like "The Wife" which really is one of the better books I've read this summer so far.

8-26-07

Meg Wolitzer's latest book, if anything, is even better than The Wife (which I read in a book group, and have recommended to about a zillion people, though most of them had already read it), and I didn't think that could happen. Because I kind of expect writers to coast after a certain while. Or to just write the same kind of book over and over again. But The Position, which kind of asks the question -- What would it be like if your parents were the models, and I mean the actual physical models, for a best-selling sex book which everybody has read, what would it be like to grow up and have that hanging (so to speak) over your head all your life? (I guess Wolitzer took as her real-life thing a book called The Joy of Sex, which has a lot of very explicit pencil drawings of a couple in action). Would you be the sort of person who runs from your life? Would you be at all proud? Or would it just be weird, and a feeling of disconnection? What she does (wolitzer) is sketch out an immensely satisfying, very very thought-provoking book that is even better, and thank God, longer, than The Wife, and it's one of those books that's not only incredibly well-written, but you also want to find out what's happened next. That doesn't happen a lot. I can count the times I could describe a book that way, actually. Anyway, I inhaled this book in about a day, and in fact, canceled a dinner I was supposed to go to because I wanted to find out what happened in the end. We're doing it in my book group and not because i recommended it, but because somebody else in the group heard a review on the radio, and thought it would be perfect for us, and it would be. I can't WAIT to see what this writer does next. Because the books might refer backwards to the past but they also have a lot to say about sex today, and how we got from there to here. So I would deservingly give this book 5 STARS and I REALLY MEAN IT!

I started this book half-heartedly since I wasn't a huge fan of the author's previous "Surrender, Dorothy." To my surprise I found myself engrossed in the dysfunctional Mellow family and finished "The Position" in a few days. It has the same voyeuristic appeal of tell-all shows like 'Sex and the City.'

At times the book seemed overcrowded with characters. Some, like black sheep Holly, never fully come to light. Others, like Michael's girlfriend Thea, are given too much time... what was the point of that twist? I was reminded of certain ensemble films where there are so many good actors that they just seem to get in the way.

The end result of "The Position" is that it delivers far less than the sum of its parts. It is, however, a fun, light read, the equivalent of a popcorn flick. Those looking for a deeper examination of family dysfunction can read Franzen's "The Corrections."

Michael Mellow, age thirteen, discovers a book called PLEASURING (complete with realistic illustrations), which features his parents graphically enjoying their sexuality. He immediately shares his discovery with his siblings --- Claudia, Dashiell and Holly, ages six to fifteen.

PLEASURING becomes a national sensation, with Roz and Paul Mellow appearing on television, on the covers of magazines, and on lecture tours. The book makes the Mellows wealthy, but it also changes the family forever.

Michael reflects, "No one ever thought about how it felt to be Paul and Roz Mellow's children ... how it felt to have your parents display their bodies, their preferences, their most private selves."

Thirty years later, the parents (who divorced two years after PLEASURING was released) argue over whether or not to reissue the book. Roz recruits Michael to persuade his father to allow the anniversary edition, so Michael travels to Florida to talk to Paul. The trip becomes a prolonged respite from Michael's own life, which has focused lately on the sexually detrimental side effects of his antidepressant.

Meanwhile, the grown Dashiell finds an ominous lump in his neck. His illness gives him time to reflect yet again on the fact that his parents' book spoke slightingly of homosexuality --- a fact that continues to wound him in spite of his satisfying life with his partner, Tom, and his work with a senatorial campaign staff.

Holly, the Mellows' oldest child, has long left the family, first for a life of transience and drugs and later for marriage and motherhood. When she married, her primary emotion was relief at no longer bearing the name Mellow or having to hear, "You're not related to the sex book Mellows?"

Their little sister, Claudia, has lived permanently with self-hatred, based mostly on her short thick body. Thirty years after first seeing her parents' sensational book, she is just embarking on her first real relationship.

Paul, the father, is on his third marriage yet still considers Roz to be his true wife. Nearly thirty years after their divorce, he continues to obsess on the ending of their marriage. His motive for refusing to agree to a re-release of PLEASURING is spite for Roz's decision to leave him.

Roz, now a professor teaching human sexuality to college students, remains attractive at 67. However, she continues to long for the acclaim she experienced when PLEASURING was first published.

Meg Wolitzer is a master storyteller. In her hands, the lives of these six people are realistically interwoven and absolutely fascinating. A subtle mystery --- how exactly did the Mellow marriage end? --- threads through the plot. The answer manages to be truly surprising despite abundant clues. I highly recommend this intelligent and thought-provoking work, which offers readers subtle resolution and hope.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

The book should get five stars for the nostalgia factor alone!!! Growing up in the seventies has ever been more unglamorously or accurately depicted as in Meg Wolitzers brilliant, funny, and touching saga of the Mellow family. Paul and Roz Mellow write a book akin to 'The Joy Of Sex' which they end up being the models for. The book becomes a massive bestseller, and changes their lives. However one evening the children pore over the pages of the book together, and witness their parents in poses that one never hopes or could even imagine their parents being in. The shock waves from this reverberates into each of their adult lives. I fell in love with these characters. They were all so real and so identifiable, you can't help see parts of your own family in theirs. I also found the book hard to put down, which is always, to me anyway, the sign of a really great book.

The story is about a couple (Paul and Roz Mellow) who write a book on their sex life which becomes a huge bestseller. They have four children and one of them discovers the book and shares it with the others. The plot-line evolves around the lives of these four children as adults. We read this book for our book-club this past summer and about midway through the book I become conscious of the narrative shifts along chapter lines -- too many writers use this device and I wonder if it is taught in some writer's course. The author's writing style makes for a quick page turner, and she keeps the plot moving along. Each of the children and the parents themselves become characters the reader identifies with, and by the time I reached the point in the book where the title is explained, I couldn't really care about it. The only nit I'd pick with this book is that if there was a supposed connection between that early event when the children discover their parents' book and their eventual lives (sex or real) -- I didn't get it. If you are looking for a light novel to pass a few hours with, this book might fit the bill.

Parents can be embarrassing but usually it is average childhood embarrassments - an odd nickname, washing your face in public. But the parents in the book take it one step further - one big step and it makes for very neurotic siblings.

The Mellows (the word Mellow is quite in contrast to their love for each other), the two write a book on sex and their love in it - in great - very great detail. Naturally, their children are totally embarrassed. Thirty years later - the Mellow couple has divorced and remarried several - quite contradicting from their love. The book then shows how the children have grown and coped in their parents' world and shows "you are what you are."

Written with wit, insight and smart, intelligent prose, Meg Wolitzer writes another page turner. While very different from The Wife, this book is both psychological and filled with humor. It shows how all of us come from our own history, make choices based on that and are molded indelibly from our family way. The premise is so delicious and the outcome enfolds in such unanticipated ways that I staggered finishing the book, because I did not want it to end.

I had never heard of Meg Worlitzer until driving home and listening to Fresh Air on NPR during the course of an interview on this new work, 'The Position'. Afterwards I ran to buy a copy and I have been switched on ever since page 1. I am electrified.

Meg Worlitzer is truly gifted at creating a mental image with prose. Places take on atmosphere, people pop from the pages as if to say 'Here I am. Like what I'm wearing?', neighborhoods bustle, streets are named. Her ability to capture the timelessness of being human and her keen insight into family as well as youth serves this work of fiction well. She is able to tenderly broach a few taboos without it becoming a work of grotesque pornography. Her views on the phantom that is family, the detritus that it leaves, the wrecking ball family sometimes becomes is captivating.

'The Position' is one of those works that came along as if carried by the wind to whack me upside my carrion filled head with something new and bloody. It is good meat and I am more than pleased to devour the rest of it. The remnants I will bury for a time when my offspring need a good meal themselves.

Meg Wolitzer's been steadily building strength over the course of her career, and I thought she'd really peaked with The Wife -- until I picked up this book. The narrative is so assured, and laugh out loud funny, that it's impossible to put down. With a steady hand she shifts point of view chapter by chapter, as if passing a relay baton from character to character, painting a complex and complete picture of one colorful family then (in the 1970s) and now, until the very end when The Position becomes more than just the portrait of one family or an era (or a sex act!). It's a crazy, beautiful meditation on how each of us, with our own unique dysfunctions, finds happiness.

I really enjoyed this book- diving into the feelings and adolescence of each family member. It really captured the life in a big family. Definitely a good read. The sensationalism of it being Joy of Sex isn't really as much as all that, so it may be less interesting to those that want scandalous sex passages.

After reading about 130 pages I began to feel like I had already read this. It reminds me a lot of The Corrections, though not as depressing or interesting...or good. The parents--the children and their individual perspectives and lives and then a lesbian affair. It's all been done before in The Corrections (and various other novels, come to think of it). It's boring, really. I didn't care for any of the characters, and even though I'm nearly finished with the book I still feel that they are two-dimensional. The Thea and Anne affair was so predictable--a sure sign of a mediocre book. I am only bothering because I have book group next Tuesday. I wouldn't bother if you really enjoy a well constructed novel.

Over-the-top; flowery prose
Under-developed characters
Meandering "plot"
Childish tendency to make awkward digs at Republicans

SO glad I bought this off the $2 Kindle Monthly Special list!

Sex, irony and subtle tragedy reign throughout the novel with sadness and love intertwined. This book was certainly entertaining but not life changing. I would recommend it for a 'light' read; it's a good beach read with a little raunchiness. Funny that 'electric forgiveness' was the trademark of the parents sex guide yet forgiveness was not the families strong suit.

I loved this book. Meg has a remarkable writing style and insight into human nature. I loved the way she captured the loss of childhood. Not quite as good as The Wife but an excellent read that I highly recommend.

I adore Meg Wolitzer’s novels. Her writing is intelligent and insightful, and she tackles subjects of family and what it means to be a woman in meaningful and unusual ways. If you enjoy language and literary novels, her work will appeal to you. If you are not used to reading books whose focus is language and open ended themes, you may not enjoy her work. With each of her novels, this one included, I find myself pumping the brakes as I come close to the end of the book; I can’t stand for them to end. Her portrait of this family begins during the sexual awakening of the sixties/early seventies. Roz and her husband are characters who represent the zeitgeist of that era - carelessly self-involved parents who are focused on their altruistic project of normalizing many forms of sexual desire...but completely eliding homosexual love as topic worthy of discussion. Their children are changed forever by the discovery of their parents’ book about sex, unable to close their eyes to the documentation of their parents’ sex lives or to escape the legacy the parents’ book creates. Wolitzer’s treatment of the hypocrisy of a sexual revolution that loosened sexual mores for heterosexuals but continued to push homosexuality into the closet is brilliant. In true late-sixties to early-seventies stereotype, the parents are much more focused on themselves and their relationship than they seem to be on their children. Consequently, each child struggles with the concept of adulthood and their own self-involvement as they become adults. Emotional insufficiency and the inability to shrug off one’s familial identity plague each of the children in different ways, creating characters who may not always be pleasant, but are always interesting. Meg Wolitzer is an important voice for this generation (Generation X) who came of age during the eighties, tackling the confusing and often contradictory cultural pronouncements around what it means to be a woman, a man, and even a family.