The Ten-Year Nap

By: Meg Wolitzer

Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan

Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

For a group of four New York friends, the past decade has been largely defined by marriage and motherhood. Educated and reared to believe that they would conquer the world, they then left prestigious jobs to stay home with their babies. What was meant to be a temporary leave of absence has lasted a decade. Now, at age 40, with the halcyon days of young motherhood behind them and without professions to define them, Amy, Jill, Roberta, and Karen face a life that is not what they were brought up to expect but seems to be the one they have chosen.

But when Amy meets someone who seems to have fulfilled the classic women's dream of having it all - work, love, family - without having to give anything up, a lifetime's worth of concerns, both practical and existential, opens up. As her obsession with this woman's bustling life grows, it forces the four friends to confront the choices they've made - until a series of startling events shatters the peace and, for some of them, changes the landscape entirely.

©2008 Meg Wolitzer (P)2008 BBC Audiobooks America

Critic reviews

"A perceptive, highly pleasurable novel that serves as Wolitzer's up-to-date answer to the old question: 'What do women want?'" ( Kirkus Reviews)
"Wolitzer's novel offers a hopeful, if not exactly optimistic, vision of women's (and men's) capacity for reinvention and the discovery of new purpose." ( Publishers Weekly)

Poor narration

I just started listening to this, and so far it seems like a terrific and compelling story, but the narrator really stinks. She's very staccato and abrupt, like a digital, almost robotic voice. I'm trying not to let her voice ruin it for me.

Reading it sort of felt like a 10 year nap

I loved the interesings. This was very difficult to get hooked. None of the characters were relatable.

A Good Beach Read

The book is a sort of chick-lit for 30 year olds. It was very enjoyable and easy to listen to.

My only gripe is the mispronunciation of the town of Naperville, IL, which is the home town of one of the characters. The narrator pronounces with a short "a," tho the actual pronunciation is with a long "a." You would think this would have been checked out by the editors.

Not the best

I kept waiting for something exciting to happen. The book was interesting, but that's about it.

Liked it

I liked this audiobook; yes, the characters are kind of shallow and unlikeable. Yes, the narrator's voice is staccato, but that quality worked well for the book. Yes, I noticed some mispronunciations. The ending made it worthwhile for me - it wraps up nicely - almost too nicely; but still, it works and gives you a lot to think about.

I tried to like it

I've enjoyed other books by Meg Wolitzer very much. I tried to like this one, but it just dragged. Maybe I have a hard time identifying with female characters who stay home and don't have jobs, but everything was so "interior" that I couldn't make myself care--or finish the book.

Awful Narration

I would probably like this book but I can’t get past the awful narrator. She has a very deliberate manner of speaking that I find very distracting. Meg Wolitzer is one of my favorite authors so I was really disappointed in this one.

Very Good portrayal

Some of the reviewers have described this book as "chick-lit." Well, I'm not a chick and I like this lit a lot! It is true that the book is told in a distinctly feminine voice, and that is somewhat of a departure for Meg Wolitzer. One of my favorites is her 2005 book, The Position, in which she writes in such a distinctly male voice that it is almost disconcerting. I have never read anything written by a woman that so accurately portrays the voice and thoughts of a male mind. Indeed, in The Position, she proves the plausibility of one of her other great books, The Wife, in which the main character turns out to be the ghost-writer, for her husband, a celebrated author. In the Ten-Year Nap, Wolitzer really demonstrates what a versitile author she is. Perhaps I was drawn to this book because the main character and I share the same profession, but her portrayal of a bevy of stay-at-home moms seems spot on to me. My youngest child is ten-years old and my wife has been a stay-at-home mom. She and her friends from "the play group" are going through the issues and anxieties of moving back into the "working world." From the viewpoint of a husband who is looking at his wife and her friends during this liminal moment in their respective lives, I would say that Wolitzer captures reality in this book, and I found the book not at all depressing. Indeed, I found it comforting.

Well crafted prose.

The myriad of characters in this story are so relatable, serving as both anchors of familiarity and soaring kites of escape. Thanks Meg.

So dull

I kept listening but was completely bored and uninspired. I stuck with it to the end.