Summary

Meg Wolitzer’s novel begins in a flashback sequence featuring Greer Kadetsky, a quiet but opinionated freshman at a college in southern Connecticut. Narrating in the first person, Greer recalls attending a speech given by Faith Frank, a feminist icon who, for reasons incomprehensible, takes a liking to Wolitzer’s “selectively and furiously shy” heroin who “hides the possibility of boldness” (3) beneath her unassuming exterior. This surprising connection between Faith and Greer foreshadows their painful ending, an event alluded to by Greer herself.

It is Greer’s seventh week at Ryland college, and she has spent most of this time miserable. She is unable to build connections with her fellow students and she spends most of her time longing for her boyfriend, Cory Pinto. She is ably to video chat with him often, but ultimately, she feels left out of his Ivy League...