Meg Wolitzer’s The Female Persuasion is touted as a brilliant feminist novel for this current political climate. While the story is dedicated to exploring the nuances of being a woman and the oft-times thorny dynamics of female friendship and mentorship, the plot is more of a millennial coming of age story than a triumph of feminine empowerment.

This could have been a heavy-handed book rife with a lecturing tone and militant cause, but the strength of the story lies in its characters. This is a human tale, and Wolitzer treats her characters tenderly and humanely in their authenticity, their roundedness, and their fallibility. Some are more sympathetic than others, but each character is very real. The author’s writing style is humorous, pointed, witty, and lyrical, and her keen insights and observations are a highlight of the read.

That said, the pacing is uneven, engaging in places, slow to the point of boring in others. There is a rhythm to the telling, though, and every reader who has been through the slow slog to maturity can recognize the cyclical patterns of life in the book. Women have been the most persecuted and oppressed people group throughout history, but where this story becomes messy is in its attempt to wedge every current issue into a tale that still gives the reader no new insight or perspective into this female struggle. And like the current feminist movement itself, the story is exclusive to those of only a certain cut and viewpoint. Perhaps the irony was unintended that the angle of privilege denounced in the book is exactly what is portrayed throughout the story.

The Female Persuasion is a tale of maturation and growing into one’s worldviews, causes, and passions. The writing style and the characters were the story’s strengths, but in the end, Wolitzer’s latest offering was far less powerful and resonating than it could have been.