The Interestings, by Meg Wolitzer

The only bad thing about this book is the title.  At first I wondered if I really would some to care about the teenagers at the artsy camp called “Spirit-in-the-Woods,” a name as precious and pretentious as the kids who call themselves “The Interestings” are when we first meet them.  Most are privileged, a couple are poor and on scholarship, and all have some degree of artistic giftedness.   But over the intervening years as they age; have great success or tiny failures; and endure the joys and tragedies of adult life, the reader does find them very interesting.  The relationships between the childhood friends become complex and believable.  You will particularly like the homely Ethan Figman – everybody at camp does, and later when his animation series Figland is a success a la The Simpsons, the whole world agrees.  Others find their adult lives a diminished version of what they had envisioned.  They remain connected into late middle age, but loyalties are tested by one big secret.  Recommended.  468 pp.