''The Position: A Novel'' is a 2005 novel by

Meg Wolitzer Meg Wolitzer (born May 28, 1959) is an American novelist, known for '' The Wife'', ''The Ten-Year Nap'', ''The Uncoupling,'' ''The Interestings'', and ''The Female Persuasion.'' She works as an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southam ...

Summary

It tells the story of a book titled ''Pleasuring: One Couple's Journey to Fulfillment'' and the effects it has on a family. The fictional book is a sex manual, much like ''

The Joy of Sex ''The Joy of Sex'' is a 1972 illustrated sex manual by British author Alex Comfort. An updated edition was released in September 2008. Overview ''The Joy of Sex'' spent eleven weeks at the top of the ''New York Times'' bestseller list and more ...

''. It was written by a married couple and is full of detailed illustrations of them engaged in numerous

sexual position A sex position is a position of the body that people use for sexual intercourse or other sexual activities. Sexual acts are generally described by the positions the participants adopt in order to perform those acts. Though sexual intercourse g ...

s. One day while the authors are out, their children discover the book and their lives are changed forever. The story looks at the effect the book has on their lives over the course of many decades, jumping forward decade by decade. The author tells the story by switching between the different points of view of the members of the family. The parents are unaware the children have discovered the book, so their story is very different from the children's. It also explores how each character feels about the others. For example, the husband thinks his wife is the most sexually desirable woman to him on the Earth and feels he is the luckiest man alive. On the other hand, she feels her husband is too mechanical when it comes to lovemaking, approaching it as some sort of scientific experiment.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' described the book as "immensely readable, if occasionally flat". In

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

, Anna Shapiro praised the writing, describing it as "beautifully developed", and stated that the tone of the book was one of "nuanced insight and observation". Writing for

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, Choire Sicha praised the book's humor and charm, but stated that it felt "tepid" in comparison to other contemporary books about family alienation. The author of the book, Meg Wolitzer, was a guest on NPR's program ''

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 6 ...

'' on May 10, 2005, discussing the book and her life as an author.

References

2005 American novels {{2000s-erotic-novel-stub