There is no better way to end Women’s History Month than talking about women’s empowerment. In her inspirational novel, The Female Persuasion, Meg Wolizter takes you through the struggles a teenage woman has to face in the 21st century.
Courtesy of Time Magazine
Greer Kadetsky is starting college at Ryland in 2006. At the time, she was in a long-distance relationship with her high school sweetheart Cory Pintos, who was attending Princeton. After being sexually assaulted at her first college party, her and many other girls at the university had the courage to come forward– the perpetrator was hardly repremanded. She had lost trust in the system entirely. Greer was disheartened, however, she did not know she was going to meet someone who was going to change her life entirely.
Faith Frank, charmingly persuasive, was a 63-year-old woman who had been a leader of the feminist movement for decades. She was the kind of figure who inspired others ‘to take on the world’. Greer has an unexpected encounter with Faith (ironically named); they have an immeadiate connection. She asks Greer to work for her when she graduates, and thus she immerses into the feminism movement. Although her perception of Faith changed over time, it does not stop her from become a feminist activist herself.
Meg Wolitzer delivers a witty novel about ambition. It is a critique on the dymamics of women, but it is also about mentorship — passing the torch onto younger generations.